Sports
Buttler nullifies Narine to orchestrate Rajasthan Royal’s thrilling win
Jos Buttler smashed a century – his second of the season – and nullified Sunil Narine’s first triple-figure score in the tournament to pave the way for the joint-highest run-chase in IPL history. Narine’s reprise of the opening role for KKR hit a new peak as the West Indian scored 109 off 56. KKR, backed up by their 200-plus total, looked set to usurp RR to the summit of the points table but were undone by a brilliant Buttler, and a six-over mania at the end in which RR got 96 runs.
The game reached a juncture where KKR had the upper hand. Buttler was still in the middle but wasn’t quite at his best, while RR were down to 128 for 6, needing 96 off 36 balls. This was the epicentre of RR’s turnaround. Varun CV, who’d bowled three good overs, was hit for four fours by Buttler to signify that this game was far from over. Rovman Powell joined in to reiterate that as he hit Andre Russell for a six in the 16th over, which also went for 17 runs, and then went 4 6 6 against Narine to put the pressure back on KKR. Narine hit back by trapping the West Indian leg before, leaving Buttler to find his way around with RR’s long tail.
Mitchell Starc was back with RR needing 46 off 18 and was thoroughly smashed around by Buttler. The over began with a six, had the run out of Trent Boult in it but ended with RR wiping out 18 more from the target. Harshit Rana, who has been one of KKR’s better death bowlers this season, missed his mark repeatedly against Buttler and was duly punished. Buttler hit two sixes and a four in the 19th over to drag the equation down to just 9 off 6. That became 3 off 5 when Buttler hit a six over long-on off Varun. The spinner tied the limping Buttler to his crease on the next 3 balls but the fifth was a full toss that fetched 2 runs. On the last ball, Buttler pulled away to complete a sensational victory.
Phil Salt was offered a reprieve first over – a dropped catch by Riyan Parag at point – and then sent packing by a blinder of a return catch from Avesh Khan but KKR once again had a fantastic start to their batting innings. KKR were at 26/1 in 4 overs but then flew off the blocks. Narine and the impressive Angkrish Raghuvanshi went hard, even against RR’s fantastic powerplay bowler Trent Boult to guide the side to 56/1 in 6 overs. Boult, who operated at an economy rate of 6.06 in the PowerPlay until this game, was hit for 24 runs in three overs. Narine went after Kuldeep Sen in the sixth over to get warmed up for the exceptional innings that was to follow.
KKR’s risk-taking opener maximised facing a bowler who he matches up well against in the middle-overs – R Ashwin. Heading into this game, Narine had hit 60 off 22 from Ashwin in the IPL. Tonight, he scored 34 off 17 – with four fours and two sixes. Ashwin set a packed off-side field with a long off, deep point and deep extra cover but the left-hander repeatedly pierced it. Ashwin even got a couple of dots by flirting with the wide line outside the off-stump. Even with those, he got the runs to dent RR in the middle.
Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Shreyas Iyer to move to 199 IPL wickets, but finished with his worst IPL figures – of 1 for 54, after being taken apart by Narine – particularly in his last over where he conceded 23 runs. Ashwin’s returns of 0 for 49 were his second-worst – also stretching his wicketless streak to five games this season. In the eight overs between them, they conceded 103 runs at an economy rate of 12.87.
After Narine brought up his century in the 16th over, the stage was set for Andre Russell to punish RR further. Avesh came back to deny the big West Indian a late flourish, getting him caught at extra cover by Dhruv Jurel for a 10-ball 13. Only seven runs came off that over, and the next from Boult, which also included the wicket of Narine. Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer however, hit 25 off the last two overs to take KKR to 223/6.
Jos Buttler and Riyan Parag got the start the visitors needed in a chase as daunting as this one, as they amassed their best PowerPlay score of the season – 76/1. Yashasvi Jaiswal had another underwhelming outing and Sanju Samson fell after a couple of promising, but Parag continued to bring his audacious batting to the middle in the company of Buttler. Parag outpaced Buttler as he took down Harshit Rana, and Vaibhav Arora in a 23-run over in the sixth. Parag was particularly brutal against Rana but fell to the bowler’s slower one, with Andre Russell taking a good catch in the deep.
RR lost three wickets but still had 98 runs on the board in 8 overs, staying on course in the big chase. Sunil Narine then changed that by trapping Dhruv Jurel leg before in the ninth over. R Ashwin was once again promoted up the order, but he struggled to provide a push in the scoring while Buttler too went through a phase where he struggled to middle the ball. KKR spinners used the sticky pitch to make shot-making difficult as RR limped to 121/4 in 12 overs, needing 103 off the last 8 overs. Varun Chakravarthy, who was in the middle of a stirring spell, dismissed Ashwin and Shimron Hetmyer off successive deliveries to put KKR on course to finish the night on top of the points table. Buttler, however, had other ideas.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 223/6 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 109, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 30; Avesh Khan 2-35) lost to Rajasthan Royals 224/8 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 107*, Riyan Parag 34; Sunil Narine 2-30) by 2 wickets
Kolkata Knight Riders have signed Karnataka’s Luvnith Sisodia as a replacement for the injured Matheesha Pathirana ahead of their final round-robin clash of IPL 2026 against Delhi Capitals. Pathirana has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with a hamstring injury sustained during KKR’s win over Gujarat Titans last weekend.
Pathirana was one of KKR’s marquee signings at the player auction with the Knight Riders forking out INR 18 crore to avail his services. His arrival at the competition was delayed by a left calf injury sustained during Sri Lanka’s Super Eight finish at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, before he was cleared to join the team mid-April.
Having warmed the benches, Pathirana finally got into the XII against GT but bowled only 1.2 overs before going off the field with evident discomfort in his left hamstring.
Sisodia, a left-handed wicket-keeper batter who has played 15 T20s for Karnataka, is yet to play an IPL game. He has been part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru and KKR in the past, having been signed by the latter at the 2025 mega auction. His addition bolsters the team’s wicket-keeping stocks after Angkrish Raghuvanshi was ruled out with a concussion and a finger fracture.
KKR will stay in the hunt for the playoffs if Rajasthan Royals lose to Mumbai Indians. They must however beat Delhi Capitals by a huge margin in order to then pip Punjab Kings to the Eliminator. (Cricbuzz)
National Seminary Philosophate emerged champions of the Oblate Heroes Basketball Tournament after producing an outstanding performance to defeat National Seminary Theologate in the final played at the Oblate Scholasticate Basketball Court on Sunday, May 17.
The champions and runners-up booked their places in the final after overcoming their respective opponents in the knockout stage of the tournament.
The Oblate Heroes Basketball Tournament, organized in memory of Rev. Fr. Fobes OMI, featured four teams representing Oblate Scholasticate, National Seminary Theologate, National Seminary Philosophate and CRS (Clerics Regular of Somasca).
Held at the Oblate Scholasticate Basketball Court, the tournament brought together seminarians and clergy in a spirit of sportsmanship and fellowship, with National Seminary Philosophate eventually emerging victorious to claim the championship title.
It was a must-win game, and they were in early trouble, but Jofra Archer pulled off one of the IPL’s great all-round performances to seal Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) passage into the playoffs with a 30-run win over Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium.
RR will now face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Eliminator on May 27 in New Chandigarh. The IPL’s last league game, between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals in Kolkata, is now a dead-rubber.
Sent in to bat on a somewhat slow pitch in an afternoon game, RR lost both their rampaging openers early, and struggled for momentum through the early middle overs with hard lengths and pace-off deliveries proving difficult to hit. Then RR, despite having Shubham Dubey and their designated Impact Player Ravindra Jadeja padded up, promoted Archer to No. 7, and he hit three sixes in a 15-ball 32 that shifted the game’s momentum.
That innings sparked a late surge that pushed RR’s total beyond 200. Then Archer began its defence spectacularly, taking two new-ball wickets with high pace and movement. And just when Hardik Pandya seemed to threaten a late heist and deny RR their playoffs spot, Archer came back for his final over and removed him with the perfect hard-length delivery. He finished with figures of 4-0-17-3, and RR wrapped up victory by 30 runs.
That MI were well-prepared for this contest was clear in the first over itself. When Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came on strike, Deepak Chahar stationed a sweeper cover as one of his two deep fielders, and dangled a full ball wide of off stump, asking the boy wonder if he fancied taking on the fielder. Sooryavanshi went after it, and could have got six for it had Will Jacks not pulled off a spectacular diving save to keep him down to a single, but on another day he could have also been out.
As it happened, Sooryavanshi was starved on strike for the next few overs, as Yashasvi Jaiswal hit three sixes before falling for a 17-ball 27, out to Jacks who bowled two overs of match-up offspin to the two left-hand openers for just 10 runs off 10 balls.
When Sooryavanshi finally faced his sixth ball at the start of the fifth over, he tried to hit against Chahar’s over-the-wicket angle, lost his shape for once, and fell to a sliced miscue.
When Riyan Parag fell to AM Ghazanfar off the final ball of the powerplay, caught with great awareness and balance on the edge of the long-on boundary by Tilak Varma, RR were 54 for 3.
Dasun Shanaka ensured RR didn’t spend too long worrying about the wickets they had lost, with a bit of help from ordinary MI bowling. Ghazanfar and Raghu Sharma fed him slot balls that he launched down the ground for six, and Shardul Thakur sent down a short ball down the leg side that he helped over fine leg for another six. Shanaka’s 15-ball 29 was an important innings, coming when Dhruv Jurel endured another slow start. Jurel eventually hit Ghazanfar for two fours and a six in the 12th over before getting yorked by Corbin Bosch in the 13th for 38 off 26 balls.
RR have often underutilised Archer’s batting ability, and now they seemed to be erring in the other direction entirely, sending him in ahead of two recognised batters with 7.1 overs remaining.
But Archer’s right-handedness may have been one reason for this – MI could have sneaked in an over of Jacks against Dubey or Jadeja. The other could have just been his pure ball-striking ability on a slow pitch where MI were looking to bowl into the pitch as much as possible. Archer’s height, stable base, and baseball-style swing were instrumental in his being able to hit three sixes off that kind of delivery, all either pulled or flat-batted down the ground.
Thakur eventually dismissed him with a hard-length ball that climbed high enough to force a miscue, but by then Archer had given RR serious momentum. Jadeja and Nandre Burger took the baton from him and collected 30 off the last two overs. RR scored 73 off their last five.
Archer’s new-ball wickets came from dissimilar deliveries that did similar things. To Rohit Sharma, he bowled what seemed an attempted inswinger that pitched and seamed away from the fuller side of a good length. To Naman Dhir he bowled a fast legcutter on the line of the stumps. Both straightened after angling into the batter. Rohit nicked off while attempting to work the ball leg side, and Dhir was bowled swiping across the line.
When Burger got one to nip into Ryan Rickelton and induce him to miscue a catch to midwicket off the inside half of his bat, MI were 24 for 3. That became 38 for 4 when Brijesh Sharma sneaked an unplayable, in-ducking shooter through Tilak Varma in the final over of the powerplay. RR seemed to have a foot in the playoffs.
Suryakumar Yadav began his innings with a trademark scoop to the fine-leg boundary. It was the eighth time he had hit his first ball to the boundary in IPL 2026. As long as he was in, MI still had a chance, and even if he wasn’t demonstrating the range of his peak version, he still played a breathtaking shot from time to time, such as when he punched Jadeja inside-out for a flat six over the covers.
He put on 63 with Jacks for the fourth wicket before Yash Raj Punja ended the partnership in the 12th over with a bravely flighted wide legbreak right after getting hit for six. RR may have wondered if the wicket of Jacks had been counter-productive, because Pandya walked in and began to smoke the ball to all parts. He hit Punja for two sixes in his first over in the crease, then pulled Shanaka for two fours in the 13th. By the end of that over, he was batting on 25 off seven balls and MI needed 75 off 42.
The equation had come down to 59 off 30 when Archer came back for his final over. He struck with his fourth ball, with a delivery not dissimilar to the one that had dismissed him. Hard length, into the pitch, climbing awkwardly towards Pandya’s back shoulder. The attempted flat-bat hit ended up as a simple catch to long-on, and RR could breathe again.
Victory swiftly became a formality thereafter, with Bosch failing to nail a slog-sweep off Punja in the 17th over and Suryakumar – who scored just 10 off 10 after reaching his fifty in 32 balls – toe-ending an attempted pull back to Burger for a return catch in the 18th.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 205 for 8 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 27, Dhruv Jurel 38, Riyan Parag 14, Dasun Shanaka 29, Donovan Fereirra 18, Jofra Archer 32, Ravindra Jadeja 19*, Nandre Burger 10*; Shardul Thakur 2-41, Deepak Chahar 2-43, Will Jacks 1-12, AM Ghazanfar 1-45, Corbin Bosch 1-38) beat Mumbai Indians 175 for 9 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 12, Suryakumar Yadav 60, Will Jacks 33, Hardik Pandya 34, Shardul Thakur 10*; Jofra Archer 3-17, Brijesh Sharma 2-26, Nandre Burger 2-43, Yash Raj Punja 2-44) by 30 runs
[Cricinfo]
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
Features5 days agoOctopus, Leech, and Snake: How Sri Lanka’s banks feast while the nation starves
-
Opinion4 days agoMurder of Ehelepola family, Bogambara Wewa and Sightings of Wangediya
-
News4 days agoSteps underway to safeguard Sri Lanka’s maritime heritage
-
Sports5 days agoSri Lanka women’s volleyball team ready for Central Asian challenge
-
Editorial4 days agoA play without its protagonist
-
Midweek Review5 days agoOverall SLPP failures stressed in new Aragalaya narrative
-
Features1 day agoThe NPP’s pivot to the past
-
Opinion3 days agoThe need to reform Buddhist ecclesiastical order