On the eve of the Indian Premier League’s 15th birthday, Kolkata Knight Riders met Rajasthan Royals at the Brabourne Stadium and the match, in the end, was a thriller. Fans could not ask for a better game on this occasion. KKR won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to bowl. Jos Buttler’s second century this season helped RR post a massive total of 217/5.
In reply, KKR showed great courage and almost chased it down but unfortunately fell just 7 runs short. KKR has 3 consecutive defeats now and they have a massive task ahead of them if they want to qualify for the play-offs. Shreyas Iyer, who played an absolute gem of an innings to try and get his team home said in some areas, the batting did not click.
“I think from the start we got, we really were going well according to the run-rate. Finchy was good but once he was out, we slowed down a bit. We lacked a bit over there, but it is a part of the game,” Shreyas Iyer said in the post-match presentation.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t click. My plan was to bat through the end. There is a lot of pressure and I love pressure. I just wanted to set an example, doesn’t matter whatever score they get. If they can get it, I can get it as well. That’s how I was thinking,” he added.
Let us look at the talking points from this IPL 2022 match, deemed to be the best so far in the competition –
Buttler bossed KKR bowling
In the prime form of his life, Jos Buttler played another brilliant knock for Rajasthan Royals and scored his second century of the season. The Orange cap holder started his innings a bit slowly but once he started to get going literally no KKR bowler could stop him. His 61 ball hundred was included with nine fours and five sixes. Buttler has taken his name to the list of players who scored two hundred in a single season. That list includes the names of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Hashim Amla and Shane Watson. Already on 375 runs from 6 games, with two hundred and to half centuries, this could be his best IPL season as a batter if he continues like this.
Aaron Finch and Shreyas Iyer fought back
In the second innings, KKR had a massive chase ahead of them and they lost Sunil Narine in the very first ball. However, after Narine got run out by a superb Shimron Hetmayer effort, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer started showing intent from the very first ball. Aaron Finch got out early in the previous game, but this time the Aussie skipper showed what he can do. Finch started attacking in a very composed way and built a brilliant 107 run partnership with Shreyas Iyer. When those two were at the crease, KKR certainly looked favourite to chase the total down.
Chahal’s five-wicket haul
After Finch got dismissed for a well made 58 off 28 balls, KKR’s run-rate stumbled a bit. Nitish Rana gave his wicket away to Yuzvendra Chahal and the leg spinner got his tails up after that. Chahal bowled a magical final over of his spell where he took four wickets including a hat-trick. That four wickets included the massive scalp of skipper Shreyas Iyer who got out for 85. The purple cap holder once again showed how he can change the fortune of the game towards his side in the most difficult bowling conditions.
