NEWS
Follow UsJos Buttler’s unbeaten 107 off 60 balls trumped Sunil Narine’s 109 from 56 balls as Rajasthan Royals (RR) clinched a last-ball thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders to keep their top spot on the points table. Chasing 224, RR were 121/6 in the 13th over. However, Buttler held one end throughout the innings to sail RR past the finish line.
“Keep believing. That was the real key today,” said Buttler, who was awarded the Player of the Match award.
“I was struggling a bit for rhythm. At times you feel frustrated or you are questioning yourself. I tell myself it's okay, keep going, you'll get your rhythm back and try to stay calm.
“Guys like Dhoni and Kohli, the way they stay till the end and keep believing and I tried to do the same. That's something Sangakkara has told me a lot that there's always a breaking point. The worst thing you can do is to not fight and give your wicket away. He just tells me to stay there and at some point, the momentum will change,” Buttler said about his match-winning hundred.
Sanju Samson, the RR skipper, applauded the Englishman for his knock. “Jos did what he has done for us for the last 6-7 years, very happy for him. Being an opener, if Jos gets in, we all know at the dugout that he'll be there till the 20th over. If he's batting till the 20th over, no amount of runs are unchasable,” Samson said.
RR lost back-to-back wickets in the 13th over of the chase, after which they had a win probability of only 3% on the Criclytics meter. Buttler and Rovman Powell added 57 runs from 27 balls for the seventh wicket to keep the side in the game. Powell struck Narine for two sixes and a four before getting out in the 17th over to pull down the asking rate.
“We were wondering like the wickets we lost, six down and then Rovman came in and hit those couple of sixes and that's when we felt like we were still in the game,” Samson said about the turning point in the game.
The Rajasthan skipper credited KKR for the good game, especially highlighting their spinners. Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy picked 4/66 in the eight overs between them before Powell’s cameo broke the game open.
“The quality of spin which they had in Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy, they bowled really well. This ground and the wicket actually suited them well. We were wondering where can get those couple of sixes and that's when Rovman came in,” Samson mentioned.
“Certainly didn’t think we will get into this situation,” said the KKR skipper, Shreyas Iyer, after the defeat.
RR needed nine off the final over when Buttler made the task easier by striking Chakaravarthy’s first ball for a six.
“Since he [Buttler] was striking it so well, I thought let’s take pace off the ball and gave it to Chakaravarthy and it’s high pressure when you have five fielders inside the circle, you don’t have any idea where to bowl,” Iyer said explaining his decision to give the final over to a spinner when both Vaibhav Arora and Andre Russell were available to bowl.
Narine, meanwhile, was the star in a losing cause. After his maiden hundred, he snapped 2/30 in his four overs. His final over went for 16 runs before which Narine was in complete control of the match situation.
“He is a great asset to the team and he is showing it every game, he is that kind of player who capitalizes on each and every moment. I'm glad that he is a part of our team,” Iyer spoke on Narine’s all-round contribution.
