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
Ireland Women 118/9 in 20 overs (Alana Dalzelle 14, Orla Prendergast 26, Leah Paul 10, Alice Tector 10, Louise Little 26*; Lauren Bell 1-39, Linsey Smith 1-20, Sophie Ecclestone 3-22, Charlie Dean 2-11, Dani Gibson 2-10) lost to England Women 119/6 in 17.3 overs (Dani Wyatt Hodge 16, Nat Sciver-Brunt 48, Heather Knight 26; Aimee Maguire 2-23, Orla Prendergast 2-17) by 4 wickets
Lionel Messi marked his record sixth World Cup appearance with his first hat-trick at a FIFA tournament as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 to open the defence of their global crown, he also became the joint highest scorer at World Cups with the feat.
The former 38-year-old forward thought he had opened the scoring in the eighth minute in Kansas City on Tuesday when he slotted home from close range, but the offside flag was raised.
The dream start to his record-setting appearance, which will be matched by Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal against DR Congo on Wednesday, was not to be denied for long though.
A trademark, mazy run was capped by a drive on the edge of the box from that famed left foot. The power too much for Algeria keeper Luca Zidane, son of World Cup winner with France, Zinidine.
Messi doubled his tally on the hour mark with a simple tap in from a rebound off the keeper following a drive from Alexis Mac Allister.
The moment that even a player as decorated as Messi came in the 76th minute when he drilled low past the keeper from just outside the box.
The strike took Messi level with former Germany striker Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals.
His substitution came just three minutes later to a standard ovation, even old maestro seemed disappointed to be removed – and most likely rested for Argentina’s tilt at becoming only the third side to defend a World Cup title.
Algeria – the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winners – offered little, but were themselves denied an early goal when Fares Chaibi’s ninth minute strike was ruled out for offside.
Messi saw to it that there was no opening game upset to be had tat this edition, having lost their opening game at Qatar 2022 to Saudi Arabia.
Messi, who spent the majority of his club career in Spain with Barcelona before moving to French giants Paris-Saint Germain, plys his trade in US football’s Major League Soccer with Inter Miami.
Jordan and Austria open their account in the group later on Tuesday in San Francisco.
[Aljazeera]
Iran twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with New Zealand in an exciting World Cup clash at Los Angeles Stadium as protests against Tehran’s government and a peace deal signed to end the US-Iran war formed a charged backdrop to the match.
High security presence and protests outside the venue were among the off-field concerns surrounding the match on Monday.
And when New Zealand took an early lead through Elijah Just’s volleyed shot from inside the box, after being set up by Chris Wood, some fans critical of the Iranian government celebrated with New Zealand supporters.
Many of these anti-regime spectators also carried Iran’s pre-Islamic Revolution Lion and Sun flag, against FIFA’s rules. Several also booed Iran’s national anthem before kickoff.
But most of the crowd of more than 70,000 appeared firmly behind Team Melli, chanting “Ir-ran! Ir-ran!” and erupting when Ramin Rezaeian equalised shortly after the half-hour mark.
Rezaeian, one of several Iran players who had not played club football since February after the domestic league was suspended amid US and Israeli air strikes, reacted quickest to a blocked shot and poked the ball past the advancing goalkeeper.
Wood and Just combined again early in the second half, the New Zealand captain sliding a precise pass into the 26-year-old forward’s path before Just hammered home to restore the All Whites’ lead.
Iran responded 10 minutes later with a superb goal from Mohammad Mohebbi, who headed Rezaeian’s perfect cross in off the far post to make it 2-2.
The stalemate means all the teams in Group G have one point after Belgium drew 1-1 with Egypt earlier on Monday.
New Zealand, making their third appearance at the tournament, remain without a win at a World Cup after seven matches. Iran are looking to reach the knockout round for the first time.
The match laid bare divisions among Iranian American fans, many of whom said they felt torn between pride at seeing Iran on the sport’s biggest stage, anger over Tehran’s crackdown on protesters and concern over Washington’s bombing campaign.
Before kickoff, about 300 to 500 protesters gathered outside the stadium, waving anti-government signs and flags.
Some Iranian Americans had said attending the match would imply support for Iran’s government, while others said they wanted to set politics aside and support the players.
Iran will next return to Los Angeles to face Belgium on Sunday when New Zealand take on Egypt in Vancouver.
[Aljazeera]
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