Buttler, Chahal Star As Rajasthan Royals Win A Thriller Against Kolkata Knight Riders

Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata knight Riders by seven runs.

Jos Buttler's century followed by Yuzvendra Chahal's fifer helped Rajasthan Royals win a last-over thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 30th match of the IPL 2022 played at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. 

Chasing a mammoth target of 217, Sunil Narine got runout on the first ball of the run chase. However, Aaron Finch and Shreyas Iyer smashed 57 runs inside the powerplay. The duo smacked 107 runs in 53 balls for the second wicket to set up the platform for the run chase. 

Finch got out in the ninth over after scoring 58 in 28 balls. Shreyas continued with Nitish Rana as the duo added another 41 runs in the next 24 balls. Rana looked dangerous for his 18 in 11 balls but got caught at the boundary off Chahal's bowling. Four balls later, R Ashwin removed Andre Russell with a beauty. 

Shreyas kept going and added 29 runs in 15 balls with Venkatesh Iyer. Chahal came onto bowl the 17th over and removed Venkatesh on the first ball. Three balls later, Shreyas too got LBW after scoring 85 in 51 balls. Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins also got out in the last two balls of the over as Chahal completed his first hattrick and registered his five-wicket haul in IPL. 

Just when things looked down and out for KKR, Umesh Yadav smacked two sixes and a four against Trent Boult to bring the equation down to 10 runs in the last over. However, IPL debutant Obed McCoy wrapped up things with the final two wickets to win the game by seven runs. 

Earlier, Jos Buttler slammed his second century of the IPL 2022 to take Rajasthan Royals to 217/5 in the first inning. 

Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal added 97 runs for the first wicket in 9.4 overs. Padikkal got out after scoring 24 in 18 balls. Buttler then added 67 runs in the next 34 balls with Sanju Samson, who made 38 in 19 balls. 

Buttler reached his century in the 17th over and got out in the same over. Shimron Hetmyer smashed 26 in 13 balls to help the Royals finish the inning on a high. 

Brief Scorecard: 

Rajasthan Royals - 217/5 
Kolkata Knight Riders - 210/10 in 19.4 overs