The 31st match of the 2024 Tata Indian Premier League took place between two time winners Kolkata Knight Riders and 2008 winners Rajasthan Royals at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. This match was a game between the table toppers and the second ranked team and the home side failed to live up to the expectations of the fans as KKR failed to defend a total of 223 runs against the Rajasthan Royals thanks to Jos Buttler’s unbeaten one man army knock of 107 runs in 60 balls.
Before this game, RR had the best bowling unit in the current edition of the IPL but a man known by the name of Sunil Narine completely destroyed the RR bowling unit single handedly with his dominating century. He played one of the best knocks in the history of the IPL and helped his side post a massive total of 223 runs on the board. He played some passive shots in the initial phase of the inning but post the dismissal of his opening partner Phil Salt (10 runs in 13 balls), he entered his rampage mode.
He didn’t let any opposition bowler dictate the terms in the middle as smashed either a six or four in every over of the RR bowling unit. Even the world class spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin failed to find a way to send Narine back to the pavilion. Ashwin was hoping that his widish deliveries would get the better of Narine but the Trinidadian knew what the plan of the bowlers was and just completely destroyed the entire Rajasthan Royals bowling unit. Yuzi Chahal ran out of variations as well and Narine just completely frustrated the highest wicket taker in the history of the IPL with his power hitting.
The duo of Chahal and Ashwin gave away a combined 103 runs in their spells and that just goes on to show the struggle they faced against the power hitting of Sunil Narine. The other batters at the other end didn’t have much to do as they played second fiddle to Narine and sat on the best seat to witness the assault of the Trinidadian against RR.
Trent Boult eventually got the breakthrough as he dismissed Narine in the 18th over with a pin point yorker as his brilliant inning of 109 runs in 56 balls finally came to an end. But, the assault of the KKR batters didn’t stop there as Rinku Singh (20 runs in 9 balls) applied the finishing touches as KKR ended their inning with a score of 223-6.
Trent Boult (1-31) and Avesh Khan (2-35) proved to be the most economical bowlers for the visitors. Kuldeep Sen (2-46) picked up the wickets of Raghuvanshi and Venkatesh Iyer and Chahal (1-54) proved to be too costly despite picking up a wicket. Ashwin (0-49) went wicketless against KKR.
The Rajasthan Royals had a tough task ahead of them but they took the challenge with open hands as Buttler’s unbeaten knock of 107 runs helped RR chase down 224 runs. Chasing a target of 224 runs, the 2008 IPL winners won the match on the final ball of the 20th over.
The visitors lost the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal (19 runs) and skipper Sanju Samson (12 runs) in the powerplay but at the end of six overs, RR managed to score 76 runs at the loss of two wickets.
Riyan Parag played a brilliant inning of 34 runs in 14 balls and shared a 50 run partnership with Buttler but Harshit Rana dismissed Parag in the eighth over. KKR’s hero Sunil Narine then dismissed Dhruv Jurel for three runs which reduced Rajasthan to 100-4.
The duo of Shimron Hetmyer (0 runs) and Ravi Ashwin (8 runs) failed to get going as the visitors found themselves struggling at 121-6 at the end of 13 overs.
Jos Butter then reached his half century in 36 deliveries before starting his assault against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Him and Rovman Powell (26 runs) got involved in a 50 run partnership before the latter got dismissed in the 17th over of the RR inning. Buttler remained at the crease till the end and helped his side single handedly win the match against Kolkata Knight Riders in a last ball thriller.
Full IPL 2024 Points Table
POS | TEAMS | P | W | L | D | PTS | NRR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rajasthan Royals | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0.677 |
2 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1.399 |
3 | Chennai Super Kings | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0.726 |
4 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0.502 |
5 | Lucknow Super Giants | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0.038 |
6 | Gujarat Titans | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -0.637 |
7 | Punjab Kings | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | -0.218 |
8 | Mumbai Indians | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | -0.234 |
9 | Delhi Capitals | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | -0.975 |
10 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | -1.185 |
IPL 2024: Most Runs
POS | PLAYER | MAT | INNS | RUNS | SR | AVG | HS | 50S | 100S |
1 | Virat Kohli | 7 | 7 | 361 | 147.35 | 72.20 | 113 | 2 | 1 |
2 | Riyan Parag | 7 | 7 | 318 | 161.42 | 63.60 | 84 | 3 | 0 |
3 | Sunil Narine | 6 | 6 | 276 | 187.76 | 46.00 | 109 | 1 | 1 |
4 | Sanju Samson | 7 | 7 | 276 | 155.06 | 55.20 | 82 | 3 | 0 |
5 | Rohit Sharma | 6 | 6 | 261 | 167.31 | 52.20 | 105 | 0 | 1 |
6 | Shubman Gill | 6 | 6 | 255 | 151.79 | 51.00 | 89 | 2 | 0 |
7 | Heinrich Klaasen | 6 | 6 | 253 | 199.21 | 63.25 | 80 | 3 | 0 |
8 | Jos Buttler | 6 | 6 | 250 | 147.93 | 62.50 | 107 | 0 | 2 |
9 | Shivam Dube | 6 | 6 | 242 | 163.51 | 60.50 | 66 | 2 | 0 |
10 | Travis Head | 5 | 5 | 235 | 199.15 | 47.00 | 102 | 1 | 1 |
IPL 2024: Most Wickets
POS | PLAYER | MAT | INNS | OVR | WKTS | ECO | AVG |
1 | Yuzvendra Chahal | 7 | 7 | 26 | 12 | 8.35 | 18.08 |
2 | Jasprit Bumrah | 6 | 6 | 24 | 10 | 6.08 | 14.60 |
3 | Mustafizur Rahman | 5 | 5 | 20 | 10 | 9.15 | 18.30 |
4 | Pat Cummins | 6 | 6 | 24 | 9 | 7.88 | 21.00 |
5 | Kagiso Rabada | 6 | 6 | 24 | 9 | 7.96 | 21.22 |
6 | Khaleel Ahmed | 6 | 6 | 24 | 9 | 8.79 | 23.44 |
7 | Arshdeep Singh | 6 | 6 | 22.1 | 9 | 9.25 | 22.78 |
8 | Gerald Coetzee | 6 | 6 | 22.3 | 9 | 10.27 | 25.67 |
9 | Matheesha Pathirana | 3 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 7.33 | 11.00 |
10 | Sam Curran | 6 | 6 | 18 | 8 | 8.44 | 19.00 |
CHECK: IPL 2024 Most Sixes Ranking – Riyan Parag, Karthik, Rohit Sharma among TOP Players
CREDIT – IPL 2024