Buttler's 107* surpasses Narine's 109 in the Royals' record-chase match against KKR.
Royals performance tied the record they had held since 2020 for the most successful chase in IPL history.
Ankush Pandey
Kolkata Knight Riders, 223 for 6 (Narine 109, Raghuvanshi 30, Avesh 2-35, Sen 2-46) were defeated by Rajasthan Royals, 224 for 8 (Buttler 107*, Parag 34, Narine 2-30, Varun 2-36, Rana 2-45) by two wickets.
Jos Buttler made just 25 off his opening 18 balls as the Rajasthan Royals (RR) attempted to reach their target of more than 11 runs per over. He was at the crease at what appeared to be a crippling slowness in the middle of the innings, during which the Royals managed just thirty runs from six overs and dropped three wickets.
Buttler persisted despite obviously still having trouble with the injury that took him out of the most recent RR game and despite quickly running out of batting companions. In the eighteenth over, after a strong cameo by Rovman Powell, he was there refusing singles. In order to reduce the score to nine off the last six balls, he was there to smash two sixes and a four off the penultimate over.
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And yet Buttler was there to valiantly score the game-winning run off the very last ball of the match, even though Varun Chakravarthy had delivered three dots in that last over. In addition to hitting a six off the first ball of that over, which made RR the overwhelming favorite to cross the finish line, he also completed his second century of the IPL during that over, adding to the 100 not-out he had scored against Royal Challengers Bengaluru just ten days prior.
Sunil Narine's century, an incredible achievement in and of itself, was eclipsed by Buttler's effort. His 2 for 30 off four-over numbers were also impressive.
The chase's 17 over
The Royals had not given up a boundary until the 16th over of their innings, and they now needed 62 runs from 24 balls, six of which were to come from Narine's bowl.
However, after Rovman Powell hit two sixes and a four off the first three balls of the 17th over, bowled by Narine, the Royals' challenge appeared less severe. But Narine will get Powell 's leg before the wicket with the sixth delivery of the over.
The final three overs
Here was Buttler's truly shining moment, with Powell out of the picture and no batter he could trust to take the strike. Before swiveling-pulling Starc over the corner for four later in the over, he hit the opening ball of Starc's final over for a six. Not helping himself, Starc bowled five wides not too long after.
Then, needing to score 28 off 12, Buttler struck out of the following seven balls, hitting three sixes and a four without giving up. He waited; the prerequisite now reduced to three of five. He grabbed two off the penultimate ball before sending the final ball into a crowded infield with a leg-side clip. This was RR's sixth win of the season, and possibly their most deserved.
The Narine programme
Despite Buttler's superior skill, Narine was the game's MVP; his teammates simply didn't back him as much. Despite being a powerplay attacker, he allowed Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Phil Salt to seize the lead early on before dominating the middle overs against the spinners. He hit Yuzvendra Chahal for three and R Aswhin for two sixes, as both bowlers gave up more than 12 runs per over.
But Narine's innings were really driven by his fours. With the exception of four, he struck 13 of them off-side.
Despite his outstanding performance in the middle overs, Narine also picked up speed as the innings went on. Out of the final 14 balls he faced, he scored 35 runs. Most astonishingly, he took one Chahal over to propel KKR to their third IPL hundred, smashing two sixes and two fours in the process.
The KKR innings ended with some spectacular pyrotechnics from Rinku Singh, but Narine's finest partnership had been an 85-run one for the second wicket with Raghuvanshi, who scored just thirty of those runs. That was Narine's early hegemony.
