Rajasthan Royals (RR) thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by nine wickets at Eden Gardens on Thursday, May 11 to move to third spot on the points table in emphatic fashion.
RR captain Sanju Samson opted to bowl first after winning the toss and his bowlers stood up to the occasion of a must-win clash for both teams. Trent Boult took 2/15 in his new-ball spell, while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal created history by becoming the leading wicket-taker in IPL history and became the purple cap holder for the current season en route an outstanding spell of 4/25.
KKR ended their innings at 149/8 with Venkatesh Iyer scoring 57. RR had the task to chase the score and boost their net run-rate if possible, which they did in some style thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Jaiswal broke the record for the fastest IPL half-century of all-time in 13 balls, and went on to score 98* off 47 balls and was well supported by Sanju Samson with 48* after Jos Buttler was run out for 0, as RR won by 9 wickets in just 13.1 overs.
Jaiswal narrowly missed out on his second IPL ton as with three runs needed for a win, the left-hander struck a boundary when he needed a six to reach three figures. The youngster was elated nevertheless as he celebrated the winning moment the same way he does upon reaching his milestone.
His captain Samson, who was divided between looking for a win at the earliest and his young teammate's ton, interestingly defended a delivery well down the leg-side on the last ball of the 13th over, which seemed like an attempt by KKR spinner Suyash Sharma to deny Jaiswal the opportunity to go for a ton in the next over.
Suyash was slammed by commentator Aakash Chopra for his tactic, which he termed 'tasteless' on Twitter.
The former cricketer's tweet however wasn't well received by some fans which led to some fiery responses by him in the following tweets.
