The Eden Gardens witnessed something extraordinary on Tuesday. A run feast where a total of 447 runs were scored and hundreds from both sides were hammered. In the 31st game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, the bowlers were torn apart by both sides; multiple records were shattered and multiple records were created.
As it happened in powerplay
Rajasthan Royals’s skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and invited Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight riders to bat first. Openers Philip Salt and Sunil Narine started the proceedings for KKR. On a flat pitch, the duo played some gorgeous shots in the first couple of overs. The process of run making was cut short by Avesh Khan, who caught and bowled English better. This was the best catch of the match, as Khan dived towards his left to catch a one handed stunner. Salt was dismissed on 10.
Following his dismissal, Angukrish Yaduvanshi took the charge along with Sunil Narine to take the team’s total past 50 at the end of the powerplay.
The onslaught starts
Sunil Narine was riding his luck today as he was dropped twice. Rubbing salt to the wound, Narine continued to assault bowlers and completed his half century. Meanwhile, Raghuvanshi did play his part as well and added some quick runs. Kuldeep Sen provided the breakthrough and broke the 85-run stand, which came in just 43 deliveries. Raghuvanshi perished in the 11th over as he tried to guard the bouncer towards the third-man boundary. Shreyas Iyer looked determined to continue the assault, hammering Yajuvendra Chahal for the maximum. Chahal had the last laugh as the KKR skipper was dismissed on the very next ball.
After Shreyas dismissal, Andre Russell played a couple of productive shots. He was deceived by Avesh Khan’s space and handed a simple catch to Dhruv Jurel.
Sunil Narine butchers Rajasthan Royals
On the other hand, Narine continued his golden form, scoring his first century. Narine didn’t spare anyone. From Trent Boult to Chahal, everyone was taken to remands. The West Indies’ batter was dismissed by Boult after scoring 109 of 56 deliveries, including 13 boundaries and 6 maximums.
Rinku Singh played a handy cameo of 20 runs off nine deliveries to propel KKR to 223/6 in 20 overs. Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen were the pick of the bowlers who claimed two wickets each. While Trend Boult and Chahal claimed a wicket each.
The whole KKR contingent was overjoyed by the team’s performance. Even team’s owner Shahrukh Khan was impressed by the team, but little was aware of what’s coming next.
Rajasthan Royals’ Redemption
In pursuit of a mammoth total of 224, the Rajasthan Royals batters looked determined and aggressive from the beginning. The opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler was lucky as the ball took the outside age and ran towards the boundary not just once, but twice in Starc’s over. Rajasthan lost their first wicket in the form of Jaiswal, who was dismissed by impact player Vaibhav Arora in the second over. That brought Rajasthan keeper Sanju Samson to the crease, who, along with Buttler, took care of the required run rate.
However, Samson’s innings was cut short by Harshit Rana, who dismissed him on 12. Then Buttler and Riyan Parag stitched 50 runs off just 22 deliveries. The in-form Parag was dismissed by Harshit Rana. However, the quick fire of 34 in just 14 deliveries put Rajasthan above the required run rate.
Twist In Tale
After Riyan’s dismissal, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers managed to scalp 3 quick wickets to claw back into the game. Varun Chakraborty’s double blow brought KKR right back into the game.
Then, Rovman Powell, along with Jos Buttler, came to the rescue and added a 57 run stand to revive RR’s innings. However, Sunil Narine gave Kolkata another chance by dismissing Powell in the 17th over.
Jos Buttler took care of the rest. The English batter went on to hammer yet another century, despite losing batters. He took the RR overline. Jos Butler finished with 107 off just 60 deliveries.
