Buttler, Chahal shine as Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knights

Jos Buttler’s 103 off 61 and Shimron Hetmyer’s 26 off 13 quickfire guided Rajasthan Royals to 217/5 — season’s highest score in the 2022 IPL in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) here at Brabourne Stadium on Monday. Buttler scored his second century of the season and overall, third in his IPL career. Rajasthan had a flying start after being put into bat first, as it posted 60 runs in the powerplay without losing a wicket. In the seventh over Jos Buttler completed his fifty in 29 balls. Buttler continued wreaking havoc on RR bowlers with big hits and established a 97-run opening stand with Padikkal before the latter got dismissed in the 10th over. Sunil Narine clean bowled Padikkal for the score of 24 off 18 and skipper Sanju Samson came to join Buttler in the run fest. The duo stitched 67-run partnership off 34 balls, which Andre Russell broke by dismissing Samson, who holed out to deep mid-wicket and handed an easy catch to Shivam Mavi. In the 17th over, Buttler brought up his third IPL ton — studded with nine boundaries and five maximums. In the same over, Cummins ended his scintillating knock by sending him back for the score of 103. After Buttler’s dismissal Rajasthan lost two wickets in quick succession. In the first ball of the 18th over, Narine cleaned up Riyan Parag, who went straight over his head towards long-off where Cummins ran and caught it overhead. He stumbled and lobbed it towards Mavi, who completed the catch one-handed with a jump. In the penultimate over, Mavi removed Karun Nair (3). Then, Shimron Hetmyer’s hit two sixes and a boundary in the finals over to take RR to 217/5. For KKR, Narine scalped 2 wickets. Mavi, Cummins and Russell bagged one each. (UNI)