KKR vs RR / Butler's century gave victory to Rajasthan - defeated KKR by 2 wickets

KKR vs RR: Rajasthan Royals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by just 2 wickets in a sensational and historic match. On the basis of Jos Buttler's memorable century, Rajasthan registered this victory by achieving the record target of 224 runs on the very last ball. Batting first, Kolkata scored 223 runs on the basis of Sunil Narine's first IPL century at Eden Gardens. Then Jos Buttler (107 not out, 60 balls, 9 fours, 6 sixes) stood firm amidst the continuously falling wickets and then scored the biggest successful run chase in IPL history by single-handedly scoring 28 runs in the last 2 overs. Not only this, for the first time a team achieved a target of more than 200 in IPL at Eden Gardens.

Narine's explosive century

Kolkata batted first in this match and scored a big score of 223 runs on the basis of Sunil Narine's explosive century. Although this time it had a bad start and Phil Salt was out early but Narine and young batsman Angkrish Raghuvanshi (30) counter-attacked and gave momentum to the team. There was a quick partnership of 85 runs between the two. Captain Shreyas Iyer could not do anything special this time too. Narine (109 runs, 56 balls, 13 fours, 6 sixes) continued his attack and took the team towards a big score.

The Caribbean all-rounder scored his first IPL century in just 49 balls by hitting 4 consecutive boundaries in the 16th over. He became only the third Kolkata batsman to score a century in IPL. However, Andre Russell could not play a big innings this time and its effect was ultimately visible on Kolkata's score, which kept getting bigger. In the last overs, Rinku Singh from Kolkata scored 20 runs in just 9 balls and took the team to 223 runs. For Rajasthan, Avesh Khan took 2 wickets for just 35 runs.

Rajasthan's faltering innings

The return of Jos Buttler in this match proved important for Rajasthan, who could not play in the last match due to injury. Even in this match, he was not completely fit and was suffering from pain in his left leg. Still stood firm from the first over till the last over. However, his remaining teammates could not support him for long. It started with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who again got out early after a fast start. Captain Sanju Samson also could not survive. After this, Riyan Parag accelerated Rajasthan's score by scoring 34 runs in just 14 balls. During this period, Sunil Narine also took 2 wickets for 30 runs in 4 overs.

Butler single handedly won

Once again Rajasthan's innings faltered and the team lost 4 wickets within 6 overs. Shimran Hetmyer also walked on the first ball. Butler, however, remained steadfast. Despite his fitness and struggling against KKR's spinners, he kept pushing the score forward. Then Rovman Powell gave momentum to the team by scoring 26 runs in just 13 balls and from here Butler took command. After Powell's dismissal, Rajasthan needed 46 runs in the last 19 balls and there were only bowlers left along with Butler, but the English batsman single-handedly scored these runs and completed his century in just 55 balls, leading the team to victory. .