Rajasthan Royals (RR) came from the brink to win the top-of-the-table clash after Jos Buttler went ballistic on his return, smashing an unbeaten hundred (107*) to complete the highest run chase in IPL history. RR were out of the contest for the major parts of the match but Buttler kept his cool and delivered the knockout punch to the hosts in front of a stunned Eden Gardens.
RR needed nine runs in the final over as Buttler kept the strike with himself and smashed the winning runs on the final ball as Varun Chakravarthy put up an admirable fight.
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Chasing the daunting target, RR lost both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson in the powerplay phase. Buttler looked rusty after returning to the batting lineup as an impact sub but managed to forge a little partnership with in-form Riyan Parag.
The new RR no. 4 perished after a 14-ball 34-run cameo as wickets continued to tumble on the other end with Buttler unable to farm the strike.
The big turning point in the match came when Chakravarthy took two wickets on two deliveries to send Raavichandran Ashiwn and power-hitter Shimron Hetmyer, back to the pavilion.
The chase looked good as done at the stage but Rovman Powell came out swinging for the fences and took Sunil Narine – the centurion from the first innings to the cleaners. Powell’s innings allowed Buttler to come into his own and KKR bowlers felt the wrath of it.
With 96 runs required in the last six overs, Buttler went after anything delivered in his arc and connected sweetly with most of them. Consequently, KKR bowlers were rendered toothless as table-toppers, RR, maintained their numero uno spot.
Hard to explain
Quizzed where the game went awry for his team, Shreyas Iyer in the post-match ceremony said it was ‘hard to explain what happened’.
“I would second that, a bitter pill to swallow. Emotions were a roller coaster. Certainly didn’t think that this would be the situation we would get into. It’s a funny game at the end of the day, he (Buttler) was striking so well and was batting on 60 at that point in time. Hard to explain what happened at that moment,” said Iyer.
KKR dominated the game from the first ball as Narine smashed a formidable hundred to power his side to a strong total. However, apart from Narine, none of the other batters could put their hands up and make any major contribution which perhaps proved to be the undoing for KKR.
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