Satisfactory results were achieved by the Rajashtan Royals in the IPL 2022 match at Brabourne Stadium, Monday. A hat-trick from Yuzvendra Chahal and two wickets from Obed McCoy in the last round saw Rajasthan beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by seven runs.
In addition to the maximum performance from Chahal and McCoy, Jos Buttler also appeared extraordinary in this match. The English cricketer hit 103 from 61 balls to help the Royals score 5-217.
Don't want to miss the score, Kolkata tried to catch up at 4-178 when entering the 17th minute. But Chahal didn't allow that to happen. Rajasthan’s bowler then changed the momentum and turned things around so that RR remained ahead in this match. The 31-year-old cricketer scored his 21st hat-trick in IPL history and managed to record 5-40.
Meanwhile, the Knight Riders were still trying to catch up to get a promising opportunity in this round. Umesh Yadav and Sheldon Jackson took 20 of 18, and 7 of 19. Kolkata, who recorded 210 with three balls remaining, had to admit the Rajasthan’s lead.
With their win, RR have automatically moved up to second in the standings based on run rate. On the other hand, the defeat suffered by KKR for the third time in a row puts the Kolkata-based team in sixth place in the standings.
RR vs KKR
The Royals’ victory was also due to the great contribution that Jos Buttler made to the team. Buttler started the Rajasthan inning, hitting nine four and five six. The 31-year-old cricketer then ran to 50 of 29 balls, and his second hundred came from 59 deliveries.
Butler joins Chris Gayle (2011), Shane Watson (2018), and Hashim Amla (2017) as an overseas cricketers with a record of two hundred in the IPL. Overall, it was Buttler's third century of IPL for Rajasthan.
The 1.8 m tall player has the ability to hit as far as possible. In addition, he also has the ability to take advantage of every gap he can find in the match and make it a profitable momentum for his team. Interesting to see how Buttler's style of play.
Buttler made 97 run-offs with 58 first wickets with Devdutt Padikkal and added 67 run-offs to 34 balls with Sanju Samson. But unfortunately at the end of the round, he fell to Cummins.
The opening combination of Sunil Narine and Aaron Finch did not go the way they had hoped. Finch then played some great hits and retreated to R Ashwin. Meanwhile, skipper Shreyas made sure he played and guided the ball between the short third player and the back point. He swept Ashwin and stepped out to lift him over the midwicket. He works the ball around the outfield effectively, down the side of the foot.
Kolkata still did not give up and continued to fight. Finch picked up 58 of 28 balls, including nine fours and two sixes. Finch is trying to catch up again in a century with Shreyas Iyer. But then, Chahal broke their momentum.
