Rajasthan Royals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by two wickets in a thrilling match. First up, KKR had scored 223 runs thanks to Sunil Narine’s century. Rajasthan didn’t get off to a good start in pursuit of the target as the team lost two big wickets within the first 50 runs. In today’s match, captain Sanju Samson was eliminated after scoring just 12 runs and Yashasvi Jaiswal was eliminated after scoring 19 runs. But Riyan Parag batted very briskly, hitting four fours and two sixes and scoring 34 runs in just 14 balls. Jos Buttler, who came as a batsman, scored the most runs for Rajasthan. Butler hit 9 fours and 6 sixes in his unbeaten innings of 107 runs and 60 balls.
After 10 overs, Rajasthan Royals’ score was 109 runs for 4 wickets and the team needed 115 runs in the next 60 balls. Trouble began to mount for RR as the team scored just 19 runs in the next 4 overs. From the 15th, Jos Buttler and Rovman Powell started batting furiously. The team needed 79 runs in the last 5 overs. RR’s hopes of a win began to grow with Powell’s innings of 26 runs in 13 balls, but he lost his wicket to the ball of Sunil Narine.
The game became increasingly tense and Rajasthan needed 28 runs in the last 12 balls and Butler was still at the crease. There were 19 runs in the 19th over, so Rajasthan needed only 9 runs in the last over. The problem for KKR worsened when the slow over rate meant they could only keep four players outside the 30-yard circle in the last over. Butler gave RR a thrilling win by scoring a run off the last ball.
Jos Buttler’s 7th century in IPL career
Jos Buttler scored the 7th century of his IPL career in the match against KKR. He completed his century in 55 balls. He ranked second in most centuries in IPL history. Ahead of him is only Virat Kohli, who has 8 century innings in the history of the Indian Premier League.
Sunil Narine has made history
Although Kolkata Knight Riders lost the match, there is no doubt that Sunil Narine was the hero of the match. In this match, Sunil Narine scored the first century of not only his IPL but his entire cricket career. He completed his century in 49 balls. Narine scored 109 runs off 56 balls against RR. His innings also included 13 fours and 6 sixes. Narine also becomes only the third batsman in IPL history to score a century for KKR. He also showed excellent performance in bowling. Narine took two important wickets and scored 30 runs in 4 overs.
