Jos Buttler slammed his second hundred of the IPL 2022 as The Rajasthan Royals defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by seven runs at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
After being asked to bat first by KKR skipper, openers Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal got RR off to a fantastic start. The pair put on 97 runs for the opening wicket before Sunil Narine broke the stand by cleaning up the latter for 24.
Sanju Samson came and scored a quickfire 19 ball-38. His knock comprised off 3 fours and 2 sixes.
The second wicket partnership of 67 ended when Samson miscued a slower one from Russell to Shivam Mavi at deep midwicket.
The England wicket keeper carried on and reached his hundred in style by lofting a full toss from Pat Cummins over long-on for a maximum.
However the Australian quickie hit back by dismissing the Royals opener, caught at fine leg by Varun Chakravarthy for a scintillating 103 off just 61 balls.
Kolkata struck twice by dismissing both Riyan Parag and Karun Nair cheaply.
Shimron Hetmyer smashed Andre Russell for 2 sixes and a boundary in the final over to take Rajasthan Royals to an imposing score of 217/5 in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing 218, Kolkata Knight Riders lost Sunil Narine off the very first delivery, run out by a brilliant direct hit by Hetmyer for a golden duck.
Aaron Finch along with skipper Shreyas Iyer stitched together a 107 run stand for the second wicket before the former was caught at deep backward point by Karun Nair off Prasidh Krishna for a quickfire 28 ball-58.
Nitish Rana started aggressively by smashing Yuzvendra Chahal for a four and a six off consecutive deliveries.
However the left hander fell soon, top edging a slog sweep off leg spinner to Buttler at long off for 18.
The Knight Riders suffered a huge blow when Ravi Ashwin dismissed the dangerous Russell (0) with a carrom ball.
Shreyas Iyer got a reprieve on 66, when Sanju Samson failed to hold on to an attempted pull off Obed McCoy.
Yuzvendra Chahal swung the momentum in favour of the Royals by claiming his first ever hatrick of the Indian Premier League, including the prize scalp of skipper Iyer.
Umesh Yadav kept the Knight Riders hopes alive by smashing Trent Boult for 20 runs in the 18th over.
With 11 needed off the final over, debutant McCoy kept his composure and claimed two wickets as KKR were bowled out for 210, giving the Royals a thrilling 7 run win.
Rajasthan Royals 217-5 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 103; Sunil Narine 2/21) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 210 in 19.4 overs (Shreyas Iyer 85, Aaron Finch 58; Yuzvendra Chahal 5/40) by 7 runs