Rajasthan Royals (RR) continued their impressive show in the ongoing Premier League (IPL) as they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 7 runs in a high-scoring thriller at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Monday (April 18).

Asked to bat first, the Royals rode on opener Jos Buttler’s dazzling century (103 off 61 balls) to pile up a massive 217/5 in 20 overs. Skipper Sanju Samson (38 off 19 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (26* off 13 balls) also made notable contributions with the bat.

Amid the carnage, Sunil Narine returned with impressive bowling figures for KKR, claiming two wickets by conceding only 21 runs in his four overs.

In reply, KKR lost Narine on the very first delivery for a duck but the duo of Aaron Finch and captain Shreyas Iyer added 107 runs for the second wicket to keep the team very much in the chase.

Prasidh Krishna broke the partnership by dismissing Finch on 58 off 28 balls. While Shreyas continued to attack the Rajasthan bowlers, Knight Riders kept losing wickets in quick succession. The likes of Nitish Rana (18), Andre Russell (0), and Venkatesh Iyer (6) failed to make a mark with the bat.

Thanks to Shreyas Iyer, however, KKR were still in the contest with 40 needed off the last four overs with 6 wickets in hand. However, Yuzvendra Chahal (5-40) changed the course of the match in the 17th over as he took four wickets, including a hat-trick with the successive dismissals of Shreyas Iyer (85 off 51 balls), Shivam Mavi (0) and Pat Cummins (0).

In the death overs, Umesh Yadav produced a blistering cameo of 9-ball 21 but it wasn’t enough. Debutant Obed McCoy removed Sheldon Jackson and Umesh in the last over to bundle out KKR for 210 in 19.4 overs.

For his stunning hat-trick and a five-wicket haul which turned the match in RR’s favour, Yuzvendra Chahal garnered rich praise from the cricket fraternity on Twitter.

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