The West Indies trio Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine were footnotes on a record-breaking game in the Indian Premier League when the Rajasthan Royals climbed to third spot with a nine-wicket win against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Russell made 10 and ran out England Twenty20 International Captain, Jos Buttler for a three-ball duck, Narine made six and continued his struggles with the ball, conceding 13 from two wicket-less overs and Hetmyer did not need to bat as the KKR were restricted to 149 for eight from their allocated 20 overs.
After losing five of their six various matches, the Royals logged a dominant win over the Knight Riders featuring record-breaking performances from leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.
KKR Captain Nitish Rana made 22 and was the only batter to reach 20 before he was caught at deep backward square leg in the 11th over, this became the 184th wicket for Chahal, taking the leg-spinner past former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo for the most IPL wickets.
Chahal collected 4 for 25 from 4 overs and became the most successful bowler in the history of the IPL, and Jaiswal was unbeaten on 98 in the successful Royals chase and topped his performance by scoring the fastest 50 in the tournament.
Chasing 150 to win, only the run out of Buttler in the second over spoiled the start for the Royals after Jaiswal hammered 26 from the first over and emanated supreme confidence.
Jaiswal scored on KKR captain Nitish Rana, slamming 6, 6, 4, 4, 2 and 4 in the second most expensive first over in IPL history, also falling one run short of the record of 27, set by former West Indies opener Chris Gayle for the Royal Challengers Bangalore against Abu Nechim of Mumbai Indians 12 years ago.
The spectacular batting of Jaiswal, whose 47-ball innings included 12 fours and 5 sixes, allowed his side to reach 78 for one at the end of the powerplay, putting them firmly on course for victory.
Captain Sanju Samson, not out on 48, jumped in and they marched to the finish line with 41 balls remaining in an unbroken stand of 121.
