Jos Buttler's brilliant hundred, followed by Yuzvendra Chahal's five wickets, helped Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets in Match 30 of IPL 2022, at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Buttler slammed 103 in 61 balls to take Rajasthan to 217/5. Later in the night, Shreyas Iyer and Aaron Finch got Kolkata off to a rollicking start. After Finch's dismissal, Shreyas single-handedly kept Kolkata in the chase until Yuzvendra Chahal did the hat-trick to disrupt their plans.
Obed McCoy, on his IPL debut, did well to defend 11 runs off the last over as Rajasthan won their fourth game of the season.
Rajasthan Royals 217/5 in 20 overs
Devdutt Padikkal and Jos Buttler got Rajasthan off to a blistering start with a 97-run opening stand in just 9.4 overs. Buttler did the most of the scoring, while Padikkal played a decent support act with an 18-ball 24. After Buttler struck a six and a four against Umesh Yadav, Kolkata responded by introducing Varun Chakravarthy in the attack. Buttler, however, did not hold himself back and punched straight over Chakravarthy's head.
Buttler then went after Cummins, smashing three fours off him just after the Powerplay. Sanju Samson carried on with the attack, slamming 38 off just 19 balls. Buttler, meanwhile, reached his second hundred of the season. He finally fell when his attempted pull went to fine leg.
As he has done throughout the season, Shimron Hetmyer added the finishing touches with a quickfire 32. Cummins leaked 50 in his four overs, while both Varun and Andre Russell conceded around 15 an over. Amidst this carnage, Sunil Narine walked away with match figures of 4-0-21-2 in his 150th match for Kolkata.
Kolkata Knight Riders 210 in 19.4 overs
The second innings began in chaotic fashion. Finch's suicidal call off the first ball of the innings ended with Narine getting run out. Shreyas, unperturbed, sent the next two balls from Trent Boult to the boundary. Finch and Shreyas added 107 runs for the second wicket to keep Kolkata's chase on track. Finch slammed 58 in 28 balls before falling to Prasidh Krishna.
Nitish Rana hit two fours off Chahal, but Chahal had the final say. He undid Rana with a googly with the last ball of the 14th over. R. Ashwin bowled a beautiful carrom ball to bowl Russell and provide Rajasthan an upper edge. Shreyas, however, still threatened to win it for Kolkata until Chahal broke through in the 17th over with a hat-trick: he claimed Shreyas, Shivam Mavi, and Cummins.
Just when it seemed Rajasthan have almost sealed the victory, Umesh Yadav added another twist with two sixes and a four off Boult. McCoy, however, kept his cool and picked up two wickets to bowl out Kolkata for 210.
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; Yuzvendra Chahal 5-40) by 7 runs. Player of the Match: Jos Buttler.