Final Result:
Jos Buttler played a knock for the ages to stun the local crowd at Eden Gardens and lead Rajasthan Royals to a 2-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 31 of IPL 2024.
Buttler's undefeated 107 would go down in history as one of the best innings ever played in an IPL run chase.
Rajasthan gunned down the massive target of 224 with 2 wickets in hand to register the highest chase in IPL history.
The Englishman's effort actually overshadowed Sunil Narine's all-round heroics for KKR in front of a jam-pack stadium which also had the big boss Shah Rukh Khan in attendance.
Mid-Innings Summary:
Sunil Narine's fantastic 109 runs off 56 balls propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to 223 for 6 in 20 overs after they were put into bat by Sanju Samson.
Narine became only the third KKR batter to score a hundred in the IPL, which is also his first in T20 cricket after playing over 500 games during his 12-year career. Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rinku Singh also made crucial contributions with 30 and 20 (not out).
For the Royals, Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen bagged a couple of wickets each while Yuzvendra Chahal and Trent Boult getting one each.
Sunil Narine: "(If someone had told him at the start of the IPL that he'd be in the running for orange cap) I'd have taken it as a joke because I hadn't opened in a long time. With GG (Gambhir) coming back, he gave me the confidence and assurance that I'll open. I want to give the team a good start in as many of the 14 innings. job is just to give the team a good start and then keep going. We have an understanding that the pitch won't be easy to bowl on, we'll try to get early wickets in the powerplay and try to restrict them."
Toss Update:
Shreyas Iyer's kiss the coin technique doesn't work this time as Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Eden Gardens.
Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin return to RR's playing XI.
KKR vs RR Preview:
It's the battle of the heavyweights tonight as Kolkata Knight Riders host the Rajasthan Royals in Match 31 of the Indian Premier League.
Both teams won their last games and occupy the top-two spots on the points table. RR lead the standings with 10 points but second-placed KKR can dethrone them if they win tonight.
RR stalwarts Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin are expected to play this game after missing the previous one due to injury.
This high-stakes encounter promises an exciting bat versus ball showdown, with Royals boasting the IPL's most economical bowling attack while KKR ranks as the second most potent batting unit this season.
Pitch Conditions
Eden Gardens has only hosted two games so far this season - a run-fest in late March where KKR narrowly defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad, and a lower-scoring outing on Sunday afternoon when KKR brushed aside a diffident LSG unit.
It's not a large enough sample size to draw too many conclusions from, but by and large the ball tends to come onto the bat here, and the outfield is lightning quick.
Squads:
Rajasthan Royals Squad: Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Abid Mushtaq, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jos Buttler, Sandeep Sharma, Nandre Burger, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Singh Rathore
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Allah Ghazanfar, Sakib Hussain, Sherfane Rutherford, Chetan Sakariya, Nitish Rana, Srikar Bharat, Dushmantha Chameera
