KKR vs RR scorecard, IPL 2024, Match 31 highlights: Jos Buttler’s century powers RR to thrilling win

KKR vs RR highlights: Jos Buttler scored an unbeaten century and single-handedly took Rajasthan Royals to a stunning two-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the 31st game of the ongoing IPL 2024. Set a target of 224 runs, RR completed the chase on the final ball of the innings.

RR’s chase started on a poor note as Yashasvi Jaiswal departed in the second over. The southpaw got the start once again and raced away to 19 off just 9 balls before being dismissed by Vaibhav Arora. Captain Sanju Samson did not last long either and was out for 12 as RR found themselves reeling at 47 for 2 in the fifth over.

Riyan Parag and Jos Buttler then collected 23 runs off the sixth over bowled by Arora to take RR to 76 for 2 at the end of the powerplay. In the eighth over, Parag hit Harshit Rana for a six and a four before being dismissed. He departed after scoring 34 runs off just 14 balls and shared a 50-run stand with Buttler.

After Parag’s departure, RR lost the wickets of Dhruv Jurel (2), R Ashwin (8) and Shimron Hetmyer (0) cheaply to find themselves six down for 121 in the 13th over. Buttler completed his fifty off 36 balls in the 15th over when he hit Varun Chakravarthy for four fours.

Rovman Powell then came up with a fine cameo of 26 runs off 13 balls before being dismissed by Narine in the 17th over. From thereon, Buttler waged a lone battle, scoring an unbeaten 107 runs to take RR home in a thrilling fashion.

KKR vs RR: KKR innings

Earlier in the game, Sunil Narine’s blazing century guided KKR to a daunting total of 223/6 in the allotted 20 overs after RR captain Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bat first.

Narine scored 109 runs off 56 balls with the help of 13 fours and six sixes. KKR were off to a poor start as in-form Phil Salt was dismissed by Avesh Khan for just 10 runs. However, they quickly recovered thanks to an 85-run stand between Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi.

In the tenth over, Narine completed his fifty off 29 balls before Kuldeep Sen dismissed Raghuvanshi for 30 in the 11th over. Narine kept going strong and completed his century off 49 balls in the 16th over. The likes of Andre Russell (13) and Shreyas Iyer (11) could not get going before a 20-run cameo from Rinku Singh helped KKR finish with a 220-plus total. For RR, Avesh and Kuldeep picked up two wickets apiece.