Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Butler said on Monday that he had some belief during the last two overs that his side could pull off a victory against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium.
Butler's brilliant knock of 103 in 61 deliveries and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal's hat-trick and overall figures of 5/40 powered RR to a thrilling victory over KKR.
"I still had some belief that we could win. I was not expecting Umesh Yadav to smash Boult around. Obed bowled a brilliant 19th over, he has great skill with the slower ball. That along with the long side of the ground was going to be tough for KKR," said Butler during a post-match discussion with spinner Chahal.
On his approach as a batter during the match, Butler said that he wanted to take advantage of the shorter side of the field by getting more aggressive from the third over.
Asked about his hat-trick by the English opener, Chahal said that he was delighted to take a hat-trick since he had never taken one in his career before.
Chahal said that his celebration after getting the hat-trick originates from a meme that is a personal favourite of his. "I had decided that I would do it on achieving something special," added the spinner.
Rajasthan Royals spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who got a hattrick against Kolkata Knight Riders, caught all the attention of the audience for his quirky celebration.
The spinner celebrated his milestone by posing like the meme based on him during the 2019 World Cup, which went viral when Chahal was dropped from the Team India squad for the 2021 World Cup.
Coming to the match, RR posted 217/5, the highest total of the ongoing IPL season, thanks to the heroics of Jos Butler, who scored 103, his second hundred of the season. His efforts were well supported by Devdutt Paddikal (24), Sanju Samson (38) and Shimron Hetmyer (26*). Aaron Finch (58) and Shreyas Iyer (85) kept KKR in contention throughout the match, but a hat-trick and a five-wicket haul by Chahal meant that Knight Riders were bundled out for 210, painfully short of a victory by seven runs.
This is Rajasthan Royals' fourth win of the season in six matches taking them to the second spot in the points table. They will now take on Delhi Capitals in their next match on Friday in Pune. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders are currently at the sixth spot in the points table and will take on Gujarat Titans on April 23.
( With inputs from ANI )
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