Indian T20 League: Jos Buttler’s ton, Yuzvendra Chahal’s 5-for help Rajasthan overpower Kolkata

If it were a movie, they would have declared it a blockbuster hit already. Albeit it was not,  and even though it contained all the action and drama and thrill and tension for its runtime of a little over 4 hours, it was an enthralling watch as any that one could ever witness. 

Yes, it was truly not much different from a blockbuster. For it had four, or probably more, in a starry cast ensemble at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai for the Match No 30 of the 70-game long league stage of the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022. 

For Rajasthan, their English wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler cut loose the moment he stepped on the field at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday night to smack his second century in 5 matches of the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022. Jos Buttler made 103 from only 61 balls, hammering 9 fours and 5 sixes in the process. 

There are batsmen who give their best but still remain eluded by a century in the world’s biggest T20 cricket league, and then there is Jos Buttler, who makes it look like he’s scoring them for fun. Easy peasy. But don’t be misguided -- a century in any format is special and for Jos Buttler to be getting more than one in five outings is simply mind-boggling. 

And then there was Yuzvendra Chahal, the man on mission of proving his worth and mettle and talent and hunger after all the wrong that he has gone through. He wore the Bangalore colours with pride, but the franchise discarded him ahead of the mega auction in February this year and he has since remained heartbroken. For that matter, he has channelised all his energies in the right direction. 

Yuzvendra Chahal stopped Shreyas Iyer from shattering Rajasthan’s hearts by trapping the Kolkata captain for 85, denying him a thoroughly deserving century in a contest where the two-time title winners did not have more than a couple of their batsmen stepping up. Shreyas Iyer’s 85 was the top score for Kolkata, followed by not-the-first-choice australian limited-overs captain Aaron Finch, who made a brisk 58. 

Yuzvendra Chahal not only stopped Kolkata in their tracks for a big win after Rajasthan piled up 217/5 batting first, but he also bagged an extremely unlikely result of a five-wicket haul for a bowler who gets just 24 balls to do it all. Yuzvendra Chahal gave away 40 runs from his 4 overs, and to top it off, he claimed a hat-trick! 

After dismissing Shreyas Iyer in the 17th over of Kolkata’s chase, at a juncture in the game when they were red-hot favourites to win in a high-scoring thriller, Yuzvendra Chahal followed with two more dismissals — Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins being the other two victims. 

The hat-trick surely broke the back of Kolkata’s charge, but not their spirits. Umesh Yadav came out swinging his bat, connecting well to clear the boundary ropes twice and also hit a four to make 21 from just 9 balls to take his side as close as possible. 

But Rajasthan prevailed — the 2008 title winners who are looking in their best shape and form possible in all these years — a narrow 7-wicket win to confine Kolkata to their third consecutive loss. Rajasthan climbed up to the second spot in the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 points table with a famous win. 

There were some cameos too. Devdutt Padikkal played the perfect second fiddle to Jos Buttler, scoring 24 from the 97-run opening stand for Rajasthan from only 9.4 overs. Sanju Samson dazzled with a fine 38 and Shimron Hetmyer continued to show why the cricketing world rates him so highly and praises his talent with a brisk 26 not out. 

Shreyas Iyer was indeed left disappointed with the outcome of the match, but he would be glad to have found the form he was in against Sri Lanka in February, when he scored three unbeaten consecutive scores of 50 and more. On Monday night, Shreyas Iyer scored 85 from 51 balls with 7 fours and 4 sixes. 

Aaron Finch would be glad too, since for a replacement (of Alex Hales) player, he proved his selection right with a 28-ball 58 studded with 9 fours and 2 sixes. 

Kolkata have only themselves to blame for this narrow, crushing loss. As many as seven batsmen failed to get into double digits, four of them got ducks. If it was not for batting heroics from Shreyas Iyer and Aaron Finch and their outstanding 107-run second wicket stand from just 53 balls, the margin of defeat would have been much higher and damaging to their Net Run Rate.

And as per the theme, there was no dearth of talent on display. West Indies’ Obed McCoy played his first game for Rajasthan and took 2 wickets in a run-fest, wherein Sunil Narine, the veteran Caribbean all-rounder who was run-out for a first-ball duck, returned with 2/21 from his 4 overs. 

Both Rajasthan and Kolkata will draw a lot of confidence from this performance when they hit the field next, taking on Delhi and Gujarat, on April 22 and 23 respectively.