It was a treat to cricket lovers as everyone witnessed a sensational end to an edge-on-the-seat thriller between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). Jos Butler’s scintillating knock of 60-ball 107 helped RR to pull off the highest successful run chase in IPL history, reaching the target of 224 in the final ball of the match to delight the fans. The England opener registered his seventh IPL century surpassing great Chris Gayle who had six under his belt. Rovman Powell’s cameo, 13-ball 26 was crucial for RR’s success.

Earlier, KKR had a decent start with Phil Salt and Sunil Narine scoring run-a-ball 21 in 3.2 overs. Avesh Khan sent Salt (10) back to the dressing room with a brilliant catch. But from thereon, Narine alongside Angkrish Raghuvanshi shifted gears and played attacked innings to keep KKR’s head ahead. Both added 85 runs before Kuldeep Sen made a crucial breakthrough by dismissing Raghuvanshi (30).

Shreyas Iyer (11) and Andre Russell (13) failed to make a big impact. Although wickets kept falling at one end, Narine continued his brutal onslaught at the other end, reaching his maiden IPL century in style. After a long struggle, Trent Boult found a way to clean up Narine, who played an amazing knock of 109. Rinku Singh’s firing cameo of 20 guided KKR to 223/6.

Yashasvi Jaiswal gave RR a fiery start, smashing 3 fours and a six in no time, but perished soon for 19. Harshit Rana then bagged RR’s in-form batters Sanju Samson (12) and Riyan Parag (34) in a short period. KKR took a DRS to remove Dhruv Jurel while Varun Chakaravarthy struck 2-in-2 to put RR on the back foot. Butler and Powell stitched a crucial 57-run partnership to bring RR back into the game.

Butler smacked 4 sixes and 2 fours in the final three overs, single-handedly winning it for RR.