One century and one hat-trick. Both in the same match. Both for the same team. Yet Rajasthan Royals were pushed to the brink by Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday night at the Brabourne Stadium in a thrilling end to their IPL 2022 contest. Chasing 218, KKR were bowled out for 210 in 19.4 overs as RR won by seven runs – their fourth win of the season that pushed them to second place on the points table.
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Jos Buttler’s dream season got a little better when he stuffed out a brilliant second IPL century with KKR’s scintillating attack to take Rajasthan Royals for 217 for five. And then when KKR was well underway, legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal produced an incredible over to pick up four wickets in it, including a hat-trick off his last three balls to take the winds out of KKR’s sails.
Chasing the target, KKR lost their first wicket due to a terrible run out off the very first ball and Sunil Narine went back without scoring and did not face a single ball. The non-existent single was Aaron Finch’s call but the Australian redeemed himself with a blistering half-century – 58 off 28 – to get KKR’s chase back on track.
Captain Shreyas Iyer then took charge and put him in a comfortable position with 85 off 50, before becoming the first wicket to fall in Chahal’s en route to complete a hat-trick in the 17th over.
In fact, it was a remarkable over that began with Chahal dismissing Venkatesh Iyer for 6 with the last delivery of his previous over to put himself on the verge of a hat-trick. Sheldon Jackson sees through hat-trick delivery.
Chahal then dismissed Shreyas Iyer lbw and then dismissed Shivam Mavi on the first ball to give himself another chance. And this time, he roared out loud with Pat Cummins taking an outside edge to get caught-behind for a golden duck.
While Chahal and Buttler grabbed headlines, Ravichandran Ashwin also suffered a setback when he bowled big-hitting Andre Russell for a golden duck from the outfox.
Earlier, Buttler’s 103 off 61 balls had nine fours and five sixes, some of which were out of the ordinary, including Umesh Yadav (0/44 in 4 overs), who landed on the adjacent tennis court of the Cricket Club of India. .
When he was finally dismissed trying to hook Pat Cummins (1/50 in four overs), the Royals had crossed the 180-run mark and by then the Australian Test captain had been hit for seven fours and a six. , the dashing England keeper-batsman by most of them.
Buttler added 97 runs for the opening wicket with Devdutt Padikkal (24 off 18 balls), who faced only three overs in the first 10 overs.
He was then joined by skipper Sanju Samson (38 off 19 balls), who was equally devastating in the second wicket stand of 67 runs in just 5.4 overs.
Apart from Sunil Narine (2/21 in four overs), none of the KKR bowlers looked to be a threat to Buttler, who is walking away from the Orange Cap with a total of 375 runs in six matches so far.
Varun Chakravarthy (0/30 in 2 overs) has been going from bad to worse during the season as his deliveries have neither bite nor mystery and it was like cannon fodder on Brabourne’s batting beauty.
The fifth bowling option proved to be a nightmare as Andre Russell (0/29 in 2 overs) fulfilled Chakraborty’s quota as he conceded 59 runs in 4 overs overall.
Shivam Mavi (1/3 in 4 overs) and Umesh got off to a good start during the first two overs, mainly due to Padikkal’s poor performance.
However, showing his cleverness in cricket, Padikkal delivered a heavy strike to Butler and it changed course from the third over of the match.
Umesh, who had started the tournament on a bright note, came back to his old self of being uncertain as Butler hit him for fours and sixes in successive deliveries.
Then the floodgates opened as he literally messed with Chakraborty, which he turned back and hit a six, giving him enough time to send him into orbit.
If there had been a wide yorker, he would have gone past third-man, the short delivery was pulled and the feet were tucked behind the square.
With PTI inputs
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