KKR vs RR: Yuzvendra Chahal bagged his maiden five-wicket haul in IPL while Jos Buttler scored his second century of this season. The two achievements pushed Rajasthan Royals into a tension-filled seven-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders. Jos Buttler struck 103 to push Rajasthan Royals to 217 and KKR was strong as well to pull the third-highest in IPL history.
KKR vs RR: The dominating start by Rajasthan Royals
Given the pitch conditions and statistics, RR had to make the most of the beautiful batting conditions that were offered to them despite the challenges that were thrown to them. In order to make sure that KKR doesn’t get any head start in the first innings, Devdutt Padikkal and Buttler smashed 97 in 9.4 overs. RR found it difficult to cope with the opening overs as they managed to score only 9 after the first two overs. It all went south after Umesh Yadav started leaking runs.
Buttler made it look like a one-man show with him making 46 off the 60 runs RR had in the powerplay. Padikkal at that position had 8 of 10 and eventually fell for 24 off 18.
KKR vs RR: The Jos Buttler fireworks
Though Sunil Narine managed to put a brake on the flow of runs, other bowlers struggled to have an impact. Sanju Samson made an impact with consecutive boundaries against Shivam Mavi as the pair smashed 67 off 34. Before Samson fell in the 15th over, he had scored 38 off 18 and had made sure that the pressure was not on Buttler alone.
Buttler, however, did not forget to keep the pressure on the bowlers of KKR. He struck two boundaries in the 13th over by Pat Cummins. He scored one against Russell in the 16th and landed on his second century peacefully, but fell in the next over three balls later.
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KKR vs RR: Aaron Finch and Shreyas Iyer gave KKR a slight window of hope
When Aaron Finch hit the first ball to cover and took off, he offered no chance for Narine to make his ground. Hetmyer received a direct hit as Narine fell even without facing a ball and KKR had a bad start. Aaron Finch did not let any of it affect his application on the ground. He in fact, after a bad start, raced to a 25-ball half-century to chuck off his poor form.
Shreyas Iyer struck two magnificent boundaries against Trent Boult on his first two deliveries to make his point across. Finch and Shreyas Iyer made 107 off 53 to set the base for the chase and keep RR on their toes. As Shreyas Iyer took off, Finch tried to play it slow. When the KKR captain landed on 21 off 14, Finch was on 10 off 10.
KKR vs RR: Brief scores
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 217/5 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 103; Sunil Narine 2-21) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 210 in 19.4 overs (Shreyas Iyer 85, Aaron Finch 58; Yuzvendra Chahal 5-40) by 7 runs.
