Who won yesterday's IPL match? Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) hosted Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday (April 16) in a battle of the table-toppers at Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
RR captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to field first. KKR opener Phil Salt had reached 10 runs off 13 balls when RR seamer Avesh Khan dismissed him with a stunning one-handed return catch in the fourth over of the innings.
On the other end, Sunil Narine started slower than usual. He did not go all out from ball one, and was circumspect with his shot-making. The West Indian received the support of 18-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who batted with class to keep the scoreboard ticking.
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The duo compiled an 85-run partnership before Angkrish was dislodged in the 11th over for an 18-ball 30. Narine, meanwhile, shifted gears and began pummelling Rajasthan bowlers all over. At the fall of Angkrish's wicket, RR were at 106/2 after 10.4 overs.
Home team captain Shreyas Iyer did not last long as RR's ace leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal trapped him in front for a seven-ball 11. The big-hitting Andre Russell then played second fiddle to Narine, who spared no bowler from the other end. The 35-year-old smashed 13 fours and six sixes en route his first-ever T20 century.
Narine ended up with 109 off 56 balls and Rinku Singh struck a trademark quickfire nine-ball 20 to propel KKR to a seemingly tall total of 223/6 in 20 overs.
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But RR opener Jos Buttler had other ideas.
The swashbuckling English batter kept on playing in an unfettered manner even as wickets tumbled from the other end. Yashasvi Jaiswal (19 off nine deliveries) and captain Samson (12 off eight) got starts but could not kick on. Riyan Parag then rattled a 14-ball 34 that pushed things forward for the visitors.
Dhruv Jurel (2 off four), Ravichandran Ashwin (8 off 11 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (first-ball duck) departed one after the other to make things tougher for Buttler.
But that is when Rovman Powell walked in to give RR the fillip they needed. The 30-year-old smashed compatriot Narine for 16 runs off the first three balls in the 17th over, but Narine had the last laugh to end Powellβs (26 off 13) knock.
KKR were now at 178/7 and needed 46 runs off three overs. Buttler took charge of the uphill task and faced all but one deliveries that remained. Trent Boult faced that solitary ball and sacrificed his wicket to get Buttler back on strike.
A misfield by wicketkeeper Phil Salt led to KKR conceding five wides, and RR scored 18 off the 18th over. Harshit Rana gave away 19 runs in the 19th over as Buttler smoked him for two sixes and a four. Suddenly, the equation was down to nine runs off the last over. What's more, Buttler managed to pinch the strike with a single off the last ball of the 19th over.
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Varun Chakravarthy had the ball in hand for the final over and Buttler bludgeoned him for a six off the first ball to get to his second ton in the ongoing IPL edition. But Varun then bowled three dot balls as Buttler refused to relinquish the strike to Avesh Khan. The Englishman somehow collected two runs off the penultimate ball and the scores were level.
Buttler needed to find the gap off the last ball as all the fielders were inside the circle, and the RR opener did just that, heaving the ball into the leg side to score the winning run off the last ball and help the Royals pull off the joint-biggest chase in IPL history. With that, RR equalled their own record of chasing down a 224-run target - against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2020 in Sharjah.
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Royals chased down the target of 224, getting to 224/8 off the last ball of the 20th over and winning the match by just two wickets. Buttler was deservedly named Player of the Match for his undefeated 107 off 60 balls.
Brief Scores: RR 224/8 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 107, Riyan Parag 34; Sunil Narine 2/30, Varun Chakravarthy 2/36) beat KKR 223/6 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 109, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 30; Avesh Khan 2/35) by two wickets.
With the win, RR have strengthened their position on top of the points table. KKR are second with eight points from six games.
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