Watch cricket video highlights between Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders. Indian Premier League 2024 thirty first match, played at Eden Gardens.
Jos Buttler made just 25 from his opening 18 balls as Rajasthan Royals (RR) attempted to reach their target of more than 11 runs per over. He was at the crease at what appeared to be a crippling slowness in the middle of the innings, during which the Royals managed only thirty runs from six overs and dropped three wickets. Buttler persisted despite obviously still having trouble with the injury that took him out of the most recent RR game and despite quickly running out of batting companions. In the eighteenth over, after a strong cameo by Rovman Powell, he was there refusing singles. In order to reduce the score to nine off the last six balls, he was there to smash two sixes and a four off the last over.
And yet Buttler was there to valiantly score the game-winning run off the very last ball of the contest, even though Varun Chakravarthy had delivered three dots in that last over. In addition to hitting a six off the first ball of that over, which made RR the overwhelming favorites to cross the finish line, he also completed his second century of the IPL during that over, adding to the 100 not out he had scored against Royal Challengers Bengaluru only ten days prior. Sunil Narine’s century, an incredible achievement in and of itself, was eclipsed by Buttler’s effort. His 2 for 30 from four overs numbers were also impressive.
The Royals had not given up a boundary until the 16th over of their innings, and they now required 62 runs from 24 balls, six of which were to come from Narine’s bowl. However, after Rovman Powell hit two sixes and a four off the first three balls of the 17th over, bowled by Narine, the Royals’ task appeared less severe. But Narine will get Powell leg before wicket with the sixth delivery of the over.
Now that Powell was out of the picture and he had no reliable batter to pass the strike to, Buttler truly came into his own. In Starc’s final over, he hit the opening ball for a six-figure strike before swerving and hitting him for four more later in the over. Soon after, Starc did not improve his situation by delivering five wides. Then, needing to score 28 off 12, Buttler struck out of the following seven balls, hitting three sixes and a four without giving up. He waited, the prerequisite now reduced to three off five. He grabbed two off the last ball before sending the final ball into a crowded infield with a leg-side clip. This was RR’s sixth win of the season, and maybe their most deserved.
Despite Buttler’s superior skill, Narine was the game’s MVP; his teammates simply didn’t back him as much. Despite being a powerplay attacker, he allowed Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Phil Salt to seize the lead early on before dominating the middle overs against the spinners. He hit Yuzvendra Chahal for three and R Aswhin for two sixes, as both bowlers gave up more than 12 runs per over. But Narine’s innings were really driven by his fours. With the exception of four, he struck 13 of them off-side.
Despite his outstanding performance in the middle overs, Narine also picked up speed as the innings went on. Out of the final 14 balls he faced, he scored 35 runs. Most astonishingly, he took one Chahal over to propel KKR to their third IPL hundred, smashing two sixes and two fours in the process. The KKR innings ended with some spectacular pyrotechnics from Rinku Singh, but Narine’s finest partnership had been an 85-run one for the second wicket with Raghuvanshi, who scored just thirty of those runs. That was Narine’s early hegemony.
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