Rajasthan Royals (RR) thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders (RR) in the most exciting match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The competition unfolded like a thriller. RR bowlers, retained their composure in the penultimate over as KKR struggled to pursue a mammoth objective of 218. Jos Buttler with a century and Yuzvendra Chahal with a five-for were the key masters of RR’s victory.
The Kolkata Knight Riders had won the toss and choose to bowl at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, earlier in the encounter. RR got off to a blazing start, scoring 97 runs in the initial ten overs courtesy of openers Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal. Buttler with a blazing knock punished the KKR bowlers.
After Padikkal was removed for 24, Sanju Samson & Shimron Hetmyer created a significant partnership. Buttler went on to score his 2nd century of the campaign, finishing with 103 off 61 deliveries. KKR tried to push their way down in the final few overs while RR dropped wickets in a row. Considering this, the inaugural-season champions posted 217/5 in their allocated 20 overs, also RR is the team to reach the highest score of this season.
In response, KKR got off to a slow start, as Sunil Narine’s elevation to the starting position didn’t pay off. The lefty was run-out on the first ball, and he didn’t even face a delivery. Then followed the Shreyas Iyer-Aaron Finch performance, in which the combo made the RR bowlers sweat. The two dashers performed some excellent shots all over the park while keeping the needed run rate under check.
When Finch was sacked for a 28-ball 58, Shreyas maintained his composure and maintained KKR in the chase till the very conclusion. While runs were being added at a faster rate, KKR appeared to be on track to cross the finish line. Unfortunately, the circumstances were reversed in the 17th over, when Yuzvendra Chahal claimed 4 wickets, along with a hat-trick. He also had his first five-fer in the IPL 2022.
At this time, RR’s victory appeared to be a formality. Meanwhile, Umesh Yadav’s stunning appearance indicated that the thriller was far from done. However, for KKR, his nine-ball 21 was insufficient, as the two-time winners were bowled out for 210, falling by 7 runs.
