KKR vs RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 47-ball 98 not out fires Rajasthan Royals to No.3 in IPL 2023 points table

Yashasvi Jaiswal hit an unbeaten 98 off 47 balls as Rajasthan Royals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 9 wickets at the Eden Gardens on Thursday and moved to third in the IPL 2023 points.

Jaiswal also broke the record for the fastest IPL fifty when he got to the milestone off just 13 balls. The record was previously jointly held by Pat Cummins and KL Rahul.

The stunning Royals victory was scripted not just by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson (48 not out off 29 balls) who added an unbeaten 121 off 69 balls for the second wicket but also by Yuzvendra Chahal who picked 4 for 25 off his 4 overs, took over the Purple Cap and became the highest wicket-taker in IPL history. It was a night for records for the Royals but unfortunately for Jaiswal, he could not get to his second hundred of the season and finished just two short after he hit Shardul Thakur for a boundary to bring up the victory.

Yashasvi Jaiswal made the most of KKR skipper Nitish Rana’s bizarre decision to bowl himself in the first over and the Rajasthan Royals opener smashed 26 runs to get his team off to a sensational start to their chase of 150. Jaiswal hit Rana for sixes off the first two balls, then stepped down the pitch to hit a low full toss for four. The fourth ball was cut behind point, the fifth was tucked away to the deep for two runs and the final ball, short and wide, got the treatment it deserved. Result: another boundary.

Jos Buttler who had smashed 95 in the Royals’ previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, was run out for 0 after a yes and no moment with Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, the younger opener was unperturbed and he hit Harshit Rana for a boundary off the last ball of the over before turning his attention to the seasoned Shardul Thakur, smashing him for three successive boundaries in the third over of the innings. A single thereafter took Jaiswal to his half-century off just 13 balls, the fastest ever scored in the Indian Premier League.

While Yashasvi Jaiswal destroyed the KKR bowlers, Sanju Samson was happy to play second fiddle but the RR captain played a few attractive shots to further take the game beyond the grasp of the Knight Riders. Sunil Narine missed an easy return catch after a rare mistimed shot from Samson and that highlighted how everything went wrong for KKR in a crucial match. Samson made the most of that reprieve and hit Anukul Roy for three sixes in the 11th over to bring the Royals closer to their target.

Sanju Samson tried hard to ensure Jaiswal got to his hundred but with three runs needed and the opener on 94 not out, he hit Shardul Thakur to remain unbeaten on 98.

It was a remarkable turnaround by Rajasthan Royals who had lost three straight matches before their trip to Kolkata. KKR who now have 10 points with just two more matches left this season, and their chances of making it to the playoffs are almost over.

Rajasthan Royals enthralled the crowd with their superb fielding efforts after Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bowl. Trent Boult dismissed the two KKR openers Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz but those wickets came thanks to two sensational catches.

Shimron Hetmyer plucked a catch out of thin air after Roy punished a length ball from Boult; it could have sailed over for six had Hetmyer not taken a blinder. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was looking dangerous after hitting Sandeep Sharma for two consecutive sixes but Boult made another important breakthrough and again courtesy of another spectacular catch. Gurbaz tried to smash a fullish delivery over mid-off where Sandeep pulled off a stunning catch.

Venkatesh Iyer who had scored a hundred earlier in the tournament, struggled to find any rhythm on Thursday. He managed just 2 off the first 12 balls he faced before breaking the shackles against R Ashwin, dispatching the star off-spinner for back-to-back sixes. KKR still needed to get their runs more quickly; they had reached 37 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay and 76 for 2 at the halfway stage.

R Ashwin and Joe Root were shown a lot of respect for four overs when they came on right after the Powerplay and KKR needed to cut loose at some stage. After Iyer took on Ashwin, Nitish Rana tried to hit Yuzvendra Chahal but the KKR captain was smartly caught by Hetmyer at deep-backward square leg. At that point, Chahal broke Dwayne Bravo’s record to become the highest wicket-taker in the history of the Indian Premier League.

Andre Russell had played a key role in KKR’s chase over Punjab Kings few nights back but against the Royals, he was dismissed cheaply by KM Asif. The onus was now on Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh as KKR looked to pick up their pace. After a slow start, Iyer was going strong and brought up a well-deserved half-century.

However, KKR were rocked again as Chahal dismissed Iyer and Shardul Thakur in the same over to take the Purple Cap from Mohammed Shami, the Gujarat Titans pacer. Chahal struck again in his final over to remove Rinku Singh, finishing with 4 for 25 off his four overs. This was the second successive four-wicket haul for Chahal who had taken 4 for 29 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur. Before that match on May 7, Chahal had taken only 3 wickets from 6 games.

Venkatesh Iyer’s innings was one of class and patience. He was careful against R Ashwin and Joe Root at the start of the innings but he took the attack to some of RR’s best bowlers after settling down on a pitch where the others in the top-order had a tough time.