Gujarat Titans' inaugural Indian Premier League season goes from strength to strength after David Miller and Rahul Tewatia inspired a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The table-topping Titans have now won eight of their opening nine games, chasing down a target of 171 as half-centuries from Virat Kohli (58) and Rajat Patidar (52) proved to be in vain for RCB.

That pair put on 99 for the second wicket after Faf du Plessis went for a duck in the second over but Glenn Maxwell (33) was the only batter to provide a key contribution after Patidar top-edged to square leg and Kohli was undone by a Mohammed Shami yorker.

Wriddhiman Saha (29) and Shubman Gill (31) laid the platform for a successful chase for Gujarat, which Miller (39 not out) and Tewatia (43 not out) ensured despite Shahbaz Ahmed (2-26) trapping Gill lbw and then removing captain Hardik Pandya (3) to reduce the Titans to 78-3.

Their 50 partnership came in just 29 balls and RCB looked increasingly forlorn as they attempted in vain to break up their stand.

Indeed, it is now three defeats in five for RCB, Miller and Tewatia finishing with an unbeaten stand of 79, the latter lofting a cover drive to the boundary to wrap up the win in style.

Wanindu Hasaranga impressed with 2-28, but it was not enough to halt the Titans.

Kohli finds his form

Averaging 20.66 in the IPL this year, Kohli's half-century was his first of the season. He was not able to record another 100 partnership, having put on 118 alongside Du Plessis against Punjab Kings last month. RCB will be hoping he can produce more performances of this ilk to inspire them to a top-four finish.

Miller and Tewatia magic

The Titans needed 36 off the final 18 balls, with a dramatic finish seemingly in the offing. However, Miller and Tewatia took 17 off the 18th over and 12 from the 19th, with a four apiece off the helpless Josh Hazlewood in the final over finishing the job.

Lucknow Super Giants moved to within two points of the Indian Premier League summit as Quinton de Kock's stand helped see off Punjab Kings by 20 runs.

Opener De Kock scored 46 from 37 balls as the Super Giants reached 153-8 from their 20 overs on Friday.

That was despite the efforts of Kagiso Rabada, who took 4-38, including the early wicket of Super Giants captain KL Rahul.

Yet after Rahul's dismissal, De Kock – with the assistance of Deepak Hooda (34) – guided the Super Giants from 13-1 to 98-2 before falling to Sandeep Sharma (1-18).

Deepak was run out by Jonny Bairstow in the next over to kick-start a middle-order collapse, but Dushmantha Chameera's 17 from 10 balls and an unbeaten 13 from Mohsin Khan added vital runs.

Mohsin went on to impress with the ball for the Super Giants, taking 3-24 from his four overs, which included a maiden.

Mayank Agarwal (25) and Bairstow (32) tried to get Punjab going, but both fell to Chameera (2-17) before Khan sent dangerman Liam Livingstone packing on 18 to all but end the Kings' hopes – Rishi Dhawan's flurry of 21 proving too little, too late.

De Kock back to form

Rabada gave his best but it was fellow South African De Kock who was the difference in this match.

The wicketkeeper-batsman had only scored a combined 13 runs across his previous two appearances but was the anchor of the Super Giants' innings here, with his 46 coming at a strike rate of 124.32 and including six boundaries – two of those were sixes.

Mohsin shows his worth

After adding a useful tally to the Super Giants' score, Mohsin – who had only taken one wicket this season before Friday's match – delivered with the ball, taking the key wicket of Livingstone (who has scored 60+ three times already this season) before dismissing Rabada and Rahul Chahar in the 18th over.

Rovman Powell hit 33 off 16 balls to ensure the Delhi Capitals sealed a four-wicket victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday.

A knock of 42 from David Warner had helped to set the table for Powell, with the Capitals condemning the Knight Riders to their fifth straight loss in the Indian Premier League.

Kolkata mostly struggled with the bat themselves, with captain Shreyas Iyer the only man to show any resistance in the early stages with 42, while Nitish Rana added a much-needed 57 later on.

Apart from Rinku Singh's 23, no other Knight Rider managed double figures, and they were only able to reach 146-9 from their 20 overs.

Prithvi Shaw was out first ball for Delhi in reply, caught and bowled by Umesh Yadav (3-24), but Warner was able to guide his team through the early overs to build a base for the chase.

The Capitals did enter panic mode slightly as they went from 82-2 to 84-5, with skipper Rishabh Pant out for just two.

However, Powell and Axar Patel (24) calmed things down, with Powell the aggressor with one four and three sixes as he saw his team home with an over the spare.

Batting woes for Knight Riders

If you bat first in T20 cricket, you better set a big total, even if just to put an element of doubt in the chasing team's minds.

It's not that 146 is a poor total, but that almost all the runs came from just three batsmen was the real issue for Kolkata.

Six others came and went without making more than six runs, with Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Tim Southee all falling for ducks.

Tight bowling the difference

It would be harsh to dismiss those batting failures without crediting the bowling that caused them. Delhi's attack was fierce at the Wankhede Stadium.

Mustafizur Rahman (3-18) and Kuldeep Yadav (4-14) were particularly impressive, with the former bowling 14 dot balls in his four-over spell.

Umran Malik's first IPL five-for was overshadowed by Sunrisers Hyderabad's remarkable collapse to lose to Gujarat Titans from the final ball.

Umran has impressed all with his outstanding pace bowling in 2022 and took another step forward on Wednesday with a dazzling 5-25, including what seemed to be the big wicket of Wriddhiman Saha (68).

But Sunrisers, protecting a target of 196, fell apart after the 22-year-old completed his four overs, undone by their former bowler Rashid Khan.

Rashid had not performed anything like he would have hoped with the ball, with figures of 0-45 as Sunrisers scored well through Abhishek Sharma (65), Aidan Markram (56) and Shashank Singh (25 off six).

Yet he then stepped up in the final over of the match, with Saha long gone and Marco Jansen having just about manoeuvred Rahul Tewatia (40 not out) off the strike.

Rashid hit three sixes off the final four balls to lift the Titans to 199-5, an incredible five-wicket win and first place in the standings.

Tale of two young bowlers

This has been a breakout season for Umran, of which this match should be the undoubted highlight, regardless of the result. With 15 wickets – including all five Sunrisers took here – he is up to second in the standings, behind only Yuzvendra Chahal (18).

However, Jansen, one year his team-mate's junior, was the man tasked with getting Sunrisers over the line and fell desperately short. His economy of 15.75, with figures of 0-63, told the whole story.

Batsmen surprisingly on top

This was expected to be a battle between two elite bowling line-ups – the top two in terms of bowling average coming into this clash – yet Jansen was not the only man to struggle at the death.

Lockie Ferguson matched Jansen in giving up 25 runs off the final over of the first innings, including three sixes in a row from Shashank that put the Titans in the sort of position from which they required a sensational turnaround.

Riyan Parag scored an unbeaten 56 and Kuldeep Sen took 4-20 as Rajasthan Royals defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 29 runs despite Jos Buttler's struggles. 

Buttler has been in immaculate form in the Indian Premier League, scoring successive centuries in the previous two matches, but he lasted just nine balls in Pune on Tuesday. 

The England international's score of eight included one boundary before he was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood (2-19) in the fifth over. 

Sanju Samson struck an entertaining 27, including three sixes, to get the Royals back on track, though it was Parag who ultimately dragged them through. 

Having anchored the back half of the Royals' innings, Parag let rip in the final over, plundering two sixes and a four to get his side to 144-8. 

Faf du Plessis elected to go with Virat Kohli at the top of the order, but RCB's former captain went for nine in the second over. 

Du Plessis tallied up 23 before he fell to Sen, who had Glenn Maxwell for a golden duck with the next delivery. 

Ravichandran Ashwin (3-17) joined the party, dismissing Rajat Patidar, Suyash Prabhudessai and Shahbaz Ahmed, while Dinesh Karthik was run out. 

Wanindu Hasaranga (18) offered some resistance for RCB, though their hopes of avoiding a second straight defeat ended when Sen wrapped up the tail as Rajasthan went top of the IPL on 12 points. 

Parag takes up the mantle

With Buttler failing to ignite, Parag initially showed great composure before that explosive final over when he reached a 29-ball half-century. Harshal Patel, who took 1-33, was the unlucky bowler, with 18 runs coming from those last six balls. 

More frustration for Kohli

It was another bad day at the office for Kohli, who has failed to reach double figures in five of his nine IPL innings in 2022. Indeed, it was a bad day all round for the Challengers, who could have gone top with a win, with only Du Plessis scoring above 20. 

Shikhar Dhawan led the Punjab Kings to an 11-run Indian Premier League win over Chennai Super Kings with a brilliant half-century.

The Kings posted a imposing 187-4 after Ravindra Jadeja won the toss and put them in on Monday.

Ambati Rayudu made a blistering 78 off 39 balls, but was dismissed in the 17th over as the struggling reigning champions were condemned to their sixth defeat in eight matches, leaving their play-off hopes in tatters.

The Kings were unable to get off to a flyer and lost captain Mayank Agarwal for 18, Shivam Dube taking the catch off the bowling of Maheesh Theekshana.

Dhawan, however, became the third-highest scorer in the 2022 IPL with a terrific knock, supported in excellent fashion by Bhanuka Rajapaska (42) until he also fell victim to a catch from Dube for Dwayne Bravo.

Liam Livingstone made a rapid 19 from seven balls as Punjab produced a late flurry of runs.

Robin Uthappa (1), Mitchell Santner (9), and Dube (8) fell cheaply to leave CSK in trouble on 40-3 from seven overs, before Rayudu's talismanic efforts threatened to be the catalyst for a stunning win.

Agarwal caught Ruturaj Gaikwad for 30, before Rayudu was cleaned up by the impressive Kagiso Rabada, who claimed excellent figures of 2-23.

Chennai's hopes of chasing down their target looked slim after Rayudu was sent packing, with Jadeja (21 not out) and MS Dhoni (12) unable to get them home.

Dhawan sets the tone

Dhawan's classy knock went a long way to ending the Kings' two-match losing run and Punjab are in sixth spot with four wins and as many defeats.

The India opener struck two sixes and nine fours, shifting through the gears after a watchful start.

Rayudu goes close for out-of-form Super Kings

Chennai's miserable IPL title defence continued after their top order was decimated early on, but Rayudu was unfortunate to taste defeat after single-handedly dragging his side into contention.

KL Rahul crafted his second century of the Indian Premier League season against the winless Mumbai Indians as Lucknow Super Giants recorded a 36-run victory on Sunday.

Lucknow captain Rahul finished unbeaten on 103 off 62 balls, reaching three figures with a six off Riley Meredith (2-40), but Manish Pandey (22) was the only other batter to pass 20 in support of his skipper.

Kieron Pollard collected two dismissals for eight runs as the Super Giants posted 168-6 at the Wankhede Stadium, though Mumbai's hopes for their first win of the season diminished after losing regular wickets.

Ishan Kishan (eight) fell in bizarre fashion as he edged onto wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock's foot and into the hands of Jason Holder at slip, before Dewald Brevis (three) followed to Mohsin Khan (1-27).

Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma offered brief impetus with 39 from 31 balls, but he was removed by Krunal Pandya (3-19) before Suryakumar Yadav (seven) was dismissed by Ayush Badoni (1-6) to leave Mumbai 67-4.

Pollard and Tilak Varma posed a late threat to Lucknow with a 57-run partnership, with the latter scoring a quick 38 before holing out to Holder (1-36).

Pandya then dismissed Pollard (19) and Daniel Sams (three) in the final over, either side of Holder running out Jaydev Unadkat (one), as Super Giants eased to their third straight win to move up to fourth.

Captain fantastic

Rahul powered a brisk 56-ball century against Mumbai earlier in the month and again played with remarkable control for his 103, which included 12 fours and four sixes.

Only Rajasthan Royals' Jos Buttler has scored more runs in this season's competition (491) than the Lucknow captain, who has 368 from his eight matches so far.

Classy Chameera thwarts Mumbai

Mumbai became the first side to lose their first seven games of an IPL campaign after falling to Chennai Super Kings on Thursday, but may have fancied their chances after being set 169 to win at Wankhede.

However, Rahul's bowlers kept things tight and controlled the second innings, with Pandya capably supported by Dushmantha Chameera, who went for just 14 runs from his four overs, including 15 dot balls.

Royal Challengers Bangalore were skittled out for 68 as the Indian Premier League high-flyers suffered a nine-wicket drubbing at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The feeble effort was the lowest score posted by any team in the IPL this season, and the writing was on the wall early for a side who entered the match sitting third in the table.

South African quick Marco Jansen took three wickets in the second over of the Bangalore innings on his way to figures of 3-25, removing Faf du Plessis (5), Anuj Rawat (0) and Virat Kohli (0) to earn man-of-the-match honours. The out-of-form Kohli has made just 13 runs across his last four IPL innings.

Indian medium-pacer T Natarajan weighed in with 3-10, as only two batsmen reached double figures for Bangalore, with Glenn Maxwell making 12 and Suyash Prabhudessai top-scoring with 15.

The innings was all done in 16.1 overs, and Sunrisers charged to their target at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, with Abhishek Sharma rattling along to 47 from 28 balls, playing the dominant role as captain Kane Williamson watched admiringly from the other end.

Sharma fell when he looked to hit a match-winning six, caught inside the ropes by Rawat off Harshal Patel, but new batsman Rahul Tripathi blasted a maximum to make sure as Sunrisers reached 72-1 in just eight overs. Sunrisers climb above Bangalore thanks to this victory, jumping to second with five wins from their seven games.

Duck despair strikes again for Kohli

Kohli has been dismissed from the first ball he has faced in each of his last two IPL innings. He went this way against Lucknow Super Giants on April 19, and this is the first instance of him recording a golden duck in consecutive games in the competition.

Bangalore mark anniversary in grim style

Saturday marked five years exactly since Bangalore were dismissed for their lowest score in IPL history, when they were demolished for just 49 when chasing 132 for victory against Kolkata Knight Riders. Kohli made a first-ball duck that day, too.

Gujarat Titans consolidated their lead at the top of the Indian Premier League standings by seeing off Kolkata Knight Riders, recovering from a poor display with the bat to record an eight-run victory.

Despite Hardik Pandya (67) racking up another half-century for the leaders, Andre Russell's (4-5) superb late display wrecked the Titans' bottom-order to limit them to just 156-9.

However, Kolkata's attempts to chase down that seemingly achievable target were left in disarray after early exits for Sam Billings (4), Sunil Narine (5), and Nitish Rana (2).

Russell (48) fell just short of a half-century with the bat as he attempted to single-handedly drive his side to victory, but Lockie Ferguson's excellent catch sent him packing in the 19th over and sealed a hard-earned victory for the Titans.

Titans skipper Hardik elected to bat after winning the toss, going on to hit 67 in another outstanding knock as his side targeted a third consecutive IPL win.

Shubman Gill was removed for just seven runs early on, but Hardik's excellent showing led the Titans to 83 before Wriddhiman Saha (25) was dismissed by Umesh Yadav.

David Miller (27) supported Hardik well, but after the duo were caught in the 16th and 17th innings respectively, the wickets fell in rapid fashion as Russell took charge. 

He dismissed Rahul Tewatia (17), Abhinav Manohar (2), Ferguson (0) and Yash Dayal (nought) to bag four wickets in a remarkable final over, but a nightmare start to the Knight Riders' own innings saw their hopes of a first win in four IPL matches dissipate. 

Billings, Narine and Rana all fell for single figures as the Knight Riders toiled to 16-3, although Rinku Singh's knock of 35 then dragged them back into the contest.

The outstanding Russell then hit 48 off 25 balls to set up tense finale, but was caught by Ferguson two balls into the final over as the Knight Riders fell to a demoralising fourth consecutive loss.

Russell runs riot with the ball, and goes close with the bat

Russell was incredibly unlucky to finish on the losing side, registering a terrific performance with the ball and then almost dragging his team-mates to victory after taking up the bat, only to be felled just two runs short of his half-century.

Hardik show proves vital

Hardik's 67 looked to be in vain for much of the contest, but the skipper's performance eventually proved crucial, accounting for over a third of his team's score before the Kolkata top-order collapsed.

Jos Buttler blazed a third century of his remarkable season to help Rajasthan Royals get the better of Delhi Capitals in Mumbai.

The English opener cracked 116 from 65 balls in Rajasthan's 222-2, making his highest score of the IPL campaign so far and emphasising his position as the leading run-scorer in the 2022 competition. Despite a late rally, Delhi fell short by making 207-8 in reply, sliding to a 15-run defeat, with the Royals going top of the table.

This was game seven for the Royals and Buttler, and he came up trumps once more, sharing in a first-wicket partnership of 155 with Devdutt Padikkal (54) before captain Sanju Samson (46no) came out firing for the final overs.

Delhi were up against it from the off but had a sniff of a chance when Rishabh Pant began finding all corners of the Wankhede Stadium; however, Pant's departure for 44 from 24 balls in the 12th over meant there was only tenuous hope left.

Prithvi Shaw (37) and David Warner (28) had given Delhi a reasonable enough start but failed to stick around.

Yuzvendra Chahal at deep fine leg dropped Pant early in the 12th over, misreading the flight of the ball, but the batsman fell two deliveries later. Pant got a top edge when looking to pull into the leg side, and Padikkal watched the ball soar high into the night sky before it fell to allow him to take a fine catch.

Lalit Yadav and Rovman Powell showed fight to leave Delhi needing 36 from the final two overs, but Prasidh Krishna (3-22) then had Yadav caught behind in a remarkable wicket maiden. Three sixes by Powell at the start of the 20th over raised hopes of a miracle finale, but Delhi's protests over a possible no-ball killed their own momentum.

Buttler serves up another ton of treats

Man-of-the-moment Buttler came into this season with one century in 65 IPL matches, spread across six years. Now he has four in 72, and on this occasion it took him 36 balls to reach 50 and only 21 more to advance to three figures.

Buttler made a ton against Mumbai Indians in his second game of the season, and followed that knock of exactly 100 with an impressive 103 in his sixth outing, against Kolkata Knight Riders. There were nine fours and nine sixes in this masterpiece by the 31-year-old, and he has 491 runs for the season, 226 more than the next highest scorer in the competition (KL Rahul – 265).

Surreal McCoy

Royals paceman Obed McCoy cost his team 26 runs with a dreadful over that included nine runs given away in extras, five of which came from a wild and head-high no ball that raced away to the boundary. It was probably the worst delivery that will be bowled in this year's IPL, sailing way outside off stump after slipping out of McCoy's hand and landing several yards wide of wicketkeeper Samson.

When McCoy conceded three sixes from the first three balls of the final over, Delhi needed three more maximums for victory, but the paceman avoided further embarrassment.

MS Dhoni was the final-over hero as Chennai Super Kings kept Mumbai Indians waiting for a first Indian Premier League win with a dramatic three-wicket victory.

CSK needed 17 off the last over from Jaydev Unadkat in the battle of the bottom two to win only their second match and Dhoni delivered, hitting the four he needed off the last ball to leave the Indians shellshocked.

Mukesh Choudhary (3-19) dismissed Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan for first-over ducks after Mumbai were put in by Ravindra Jadeja at a raucous DY Patil Stadium on Thursday, but they recovered to 155-7.

Teenager Tilak Varma top scored with 51 not out off 43 balls, while Suryakumar Yadav (32) and debutant Hrithik Shokeen (25) also chipped in.

CSK dropped four catches, including Varma being given a life by Dwayne Bravo when he had scored only two, in a sloppy display in the field following such a great start.

All-rounder Bravo took 2-36 before Unadkat added a brisk unbeaten 19 and Daniel Sams dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad with the first ball of the run chase.

Sams (4-30) also saw the back of Mitchell Santner, Shivam Dube and Ambati Rayudu, with Mumbai favourites when Chennai were 106-6 in the 16th over following Jadeja's departure for only three.

Dwaine Pretorius made 22 and the ice-cool Dhoni stepped up when CSK needed him, making 28 not out off 13 balls to leave the Indians rooted to the bottom of the table after losing all seven games.

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Choudhary gives CSK dream start

Left-arm seamer Choudhary rocked Mumbai by removing both openers in the first over, with Rohit taken by Santner at mid-on off the second ball and Kishan losing his off stump.

Dewald Brevis became Choudhary's third victim off the final ball of the third over, reducing the Indians to 32-3.

CSK's fielding did not match the standard of their early bowling, captain Jadeja guilty of two of their dropped catches as they let Mumbai off the hook to an extent.

Dhoni still leading by example

He may have handed the captaincy over to Jadeja, but Dhoni showed he will always be a leader as he steered the holders home.

They needed 28 off two overs and 16 from deliveries after Unadkat trapped Pretorius leg before. 

Step forward the 40-year-old Dhoni, who clattered the left-armer for a straight six and struck the next ball for four, then scampered through for two before dispatching the last delivery into the leg side for a match-winning boundary.

Delhi Capitals restricted Punjab Kings to the lowest total of the 2022 Indian Premier League as they coasted to an easy nine-wicket win.

The Kings were put into bat by the Capitals and that decision paid off in a substantial way as their attack thrived in Mumbai.

Axar Patel (2-10) and Lalit Yadav (2-11) were the pick of the bunch as the Kings were bowled out for 115.

Captain Mayank Agarwal (24) and Jitesh Sharma (32) were the only batters to score more than 20 for the Kings.

Prithvi Shaw (41) and David Warner (60 not out) put on the highest powerplay score of the season as the Capitals raced to 81-0.

There was never any way back for the Kings from there, Warner finishing things off with a boundary to seal Delhi's third win of the season.

Kings fade after steady start

The Kings put on an opening stand of 33 but then lost four wickets in the space of three overs for 21 runs as the Delhi attack seized control.

Jitesh provided hope during his 23-ball stay at the crease, but the tail was unable to repair the damage after he was removed by Axar.

Warner finishes with a flourish

Warner's half-century was his 53rd in IPL cricket and made it three in a row for the Australia opener. He wrapped up the win with 57 balls to spare with a fine pull shot to the midwicket boundary.

The Indian Premier League clash between Delhi and Punjab Kings was cleared to go ahead as scheduled on Wednesday despite a sixth coronavirus case in the Capitals camp.

New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert became the latest Capitals player to return a positive test on the day of the match at Brabourne – CC.

Delhi had on Monday revealed that Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh had contracted COVID-19.

Tournament organisers gave the green light for the game against the Kings to be staged after the second round of tests all came back as negative.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also announced that the Capitals' showdown with Rajasthan Royals on Friday has been moved from MCA Stadium in Pune to Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

That decision was made as a precautionary measure following Seifert's positive test.

Faf du Plessis and Josh Hazlewood powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to their fifth win in seven Indian Premier League games as they eased past Lucknow Super Giants.

The foundation for an 18-run win was laid as Du Plessis came four runs short of a century, his blistering 96 ensuring RCB reached 181-6 despite losing captain Virat Kohli for a duck.

Lucknow got a series of starts, including from skipper KL Rahul (30) and Krunal Pandya (42), but they could not put a match-winning partnership together.

A contributing factor to that failure was the brilliance of Hazlewood, whom RCB bought at this year's auction.

After his excellent performance against Delhi Capitals, Hazlewood provided further vindication of that decision by taking 4-25.

His last scalp, that of Australian compatriot Marcus Stoinis (24), effectively ended any hope Lucknow had of victory, with Jason Holder unable to recover the situation for the Super Giants in the final 10 balls.

RCB are level on 10 points with Gujarat Titans at the top of the table. Gujarat have the edge because of their superior net run rate.

No Faffing about

Having seen the top order crumble around him, with Dusmantha Chameera claiming the wickets of Anuj Rawat and Kohli in successive deliveries in the opening over and Glenn Maxwell departing for 23, Du Plessis took it upon himself to hold the RCB innings together.

He did so by hammering 11 fours and two sixes to record his joint-highest IPL score and his second half-century of the season.

Hazlewood's hot streak

The Super Giants must have known their luck was out when an initially ambitious looking review revealed Rahul had edged a leg-side delivery from Harshal Patel behind to the keeper.

Krunal gave them hope thereafter but eventually fell to Maxwell before Hazlewood removed Ayush Badoni and Stoinis to round off a superb display from the former Chennai Super Kings quick, who now has eight wickets in three games after taking 3-28 against Delhi. 

Jos Buttler joined an elite group of Indian Premier League batsmen with a stunning century as Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders in an enthralling seven-run win.

Buttler made a mockery of Kolkata's decision to put Rajasthan into bat, hammering a 59-ball century to power the Royals to 217-5.

It was his second hundred of the season, making him only the sixth player to score multiple centuries in a single IPL campaign.

The Knight Riders put together an excellent chase, Aaron Finch (58) and captain Shreyas Iyer (85) putting on 107 for the second wicket.

Yuzvendra Chahal (5-40) looked to have ended their hopes in the 17th over by taking four wickets, the crucial scalp of Shreyas marking the start of a hat-trick, to reduce the Knight Riders to 180-8.

An unlikely batting cameo from Umesh Yadav, who struck 21 off nine, had Kolkata in position to snatch victory, but debutant Obed McCoy removed Sheldon Jackson before bowling Yadav to clinch it for Rajasthan with two balls to spare.

Buttler at his blistering best

Having already struck 100 against Mumbai Indians, an effort followed by a further two half centuries in his last three games, Buttler has started the season in ominous form.

Kolkata were the latest side to fall victim to his destructive batting, Buttler hitting nine fours and five sixes on his way to 103.

He joins Chris Gayle (2011), Virat Kohli (2016), Hashim Amla (2017), Shane Watson (2018) and Shikhar Dhawan (2020) in scoring multiple hundreds in a season.

Chahal sparks collapse, Obed the real McCoy

There was jubilation for Rajasthan as Chahal claimed their fifth IPL hat-trick when he had Pat Cummins caught behind.

Yadav extinguished any thoughts of a procession from there, but McCoy – playing his first cricket since a right leg injury ended his involvement in West Indies' T20 World Cup campaign last October – rose to the occasion in his maiden IPL match to finish the job. The Royals are now second on eight points, two ahead of KKR.