CHENNAI: When Jos Buttler was batting on 42 from 33 balls, chasing 224, it seemed like yet another anchor innings. At that poiwnt, Rajasthan Royals were 128/6, needing 96 runs from 36 balls.
Comparisons started coming in on social media, referring to the Virat Kohli century against Rajasthan that went in vain. And it seemed fair to be honest, with Buttler batting at 127.27 strike rate. But there was a difference. Buttler was doing is job of holding one end while others were going bonkers. Yashasvi Jaiswal — 19 off 9 balls. Sanju Samson (12 off 8). Riyan Parag 34 off just 14. Such was the intent from other end that despite losing four wickets, RR were still in the game.
However, they had hedged all their bets on Buttler. Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel would fail and it will come down to Buttler and Rovman Powell. That is when Buttler switched on. He belted Varun Chakravarthy for four boundaries and then hit Andre Russell for two sixes. Powell joined at the other end, hitting 16 runs off three balls against Sunil Narine.
The West Indian fell, but the Englishman kept going. He smashed Mitchell Starc for a six and a four and then went after Harshit Rana. Another 19-run over and Buttler was on 98 from 54 (181.14). KKR did not help themselves with the extras and tactics, but Buttler got to his century (106 n.o) and took RR home on the final delivery of the match.
A record run chase in the history of the league.
If Buttler walked back as the shining knight in armour, Narine was that for KKR in the first innings. Up against arguably the strongest bowling attack in the league, he had smashed his first T20 century. Facing Trent Boult, Narine started cautious. It was only when Kuldeep Sen came on, Narine, who was on a run-a-ball 12, cut loose. R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal came on, but it didn’t matter. The former was lofted over cover and cut behind point while the latter was sent over the long-off stands. Another six in the same region, this time off Ashwin, brought up his fifty in 29 balls as KKR were 100/1 at the halfway mark.
Raghuvanshi got out and Shreyas Iyer followed, but none of it mattered. Narine was going on a rampage, hitting three boundaries off Ashwin in one over and following it up with another 23-run over against Chahal, and in the process, he reached his century in 49 balls. That 63 percent of his runs came against the two veteran spinners is proof of his domination.
Narine would get out
(109 from 56 balls), perhaps the only way he could have, to a yorker from Boult, but the damage was done. Once Narine fell, Rinku Singh did what he does best, hitting an unbeaten 20 off nine balls, as KKR posted 223/6.
Brief scores: KKR 223/6 in 20 ovs (Narine 109; Avesh 2/35) lose to RR 224/8 in 20 ovs (Buttler 107 n.o; Narine 2/30)