Rajasthan Royals remain in 2nd place following their victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in a high-scoring match. England International Josh Buttler played a destroying innings for Rajasthan Royals to seal the victory at the Mumbai Stadium. He scored a brilliant century in this match. However, Kolkata Knight Riders slipped down to 6th place after the defeats. Moreover, the KKR are winless in their last three games. They just won two games in this tournament.
Match Report
Shreyas Iyer, the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, won the toss and decided to bowl first. However, it is noteworthy that almost all captains have been choosing to bowl first after winning the toss. They tried to chase the target in the most match. So, Josh Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal had to start the innings for Rajasthan Royals. Both batsmen were very aggressive on the pitch. They started hitting from the very first over. They also played the powerplay successfully without losing any wickets. But, their partnership broke in the 10th over as Devdutt Padikkal lost the wicket to Sunil Narine. With Josh Buttler, he scored 97 runs in the opening partnership before losing the wicket.
After that, Josh Buttler continued scoring runs with other players. He made another partnership of 67 runs with the new batter, Sanju Samson. However, Sanju Samson departed after scoring 38 runs for the team. On the other hand, Buttler added 103 runs alone before losing the wicket. Relying on those scores, Rajasthan Royals set a massive target of 217 for the KKR.
Chasing a big target, Kolkata Knight Riders lost their first wicket as Sunil Narine became run out in the first over. But, Aaron Finch tackled the situation with the captain, Shreyas Iyer. They looked very comfortable on the pitch. Both made a brilliant partnership of 107 runs. It seemed Kolkata could chase the target. But, the disaster started when Finch went back to the pavilion after scoring 58 runs. He hit nine boundaries and two over boundaries in his innings.
After his departure, the captain fought hard to win the match. But he didn’t get much support from the remaining players. However, he scored the highest 85 runs for the team. But, it wasn’t enough to win the match. As a result, Rajasthan Royals won the game by 7-runs.
Score Card
Rajasthan Royals: 217/5 (20 Overs)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 210/10 (19.4 Overs)