Rajasthan Royals extracted victory from the jaws of defeat after some late striking and a fighting century from Jos Buttler as they beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 2 wickets at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
Apart from the big-hitting and a whole host of wickets, except for a couple of dropped chances by Riyan Parag, most other fielders did well to grab the catches that came their way.
The best catches on the night...
Dhruv Jurel
With Captain Sanju Samson donning the gloves, Dhruv Jurel -- India's Test wicket-keeper during the final three Tests against England in the recent series -- plays as a specialist batter for Rajasthan Royals.
Jurel has shown that he is sharp in the outfield too. He took the crucial catch of dangerman Andre Russell, who miscued his lofted shot over the covers off a slower ball from Avesh Khan.
Jurel took another good catch at deep extra cover to get the wicket of Venkatesh Iyer in the final over. The KKR left-hander had looked to hit Kuldeep Sen over the off-side but couldn't get enough power on his shot.
Jurel did well to focus on the catch as there was another fielder, who also went for the catch before he backtracked.
Avesh Khan
Avesh Khan took a stunning catch off his own bowling to dismiss KKR Opener Phil Salt in the fourth over. Salt, who was put down in the first over by Riyan Parag, failed to make most of the lifeline.
The right-hander mistimed the intented lofted shot as the ball miscued to the left of Avesh, who stuck his left hand out to take a superb catch.
Andre Russell
Andre Russell might have missed out with the bat, but he came good in the field. He took a good running catch to get the wicket of the in-form Riyan Parag.
Parag miscued the slower ball from pacer Harshit Rana, looking to slog it across the line, but mistimed it high. Russell dove full length to his left at deep midwicket to pouch it safely.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi
Rajasthan Royals' batters found the going tough against KKR's spinners.
Ravichandran Ashwin struggled with the bat, scoring 8 from 11 balls before he was dismissed by fellow Tamil Nadu tweaker Varun Chakaravarthy in the 13th over.
Ashwin, attempting to break free, pulled the short ball which was much quicker as he ended up hitting it uppishly towards deep midwicket where Angkrish Raghuvanshi rushed in quickly to complete a superb catch diving forward.
Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine was all over the Rajasthan Royals.
After his breathtaking batting pyrotechnics, Narine showed his finesse on the field, claiming an important catch to send back Sanju Samson for 12.
Samson looked to hit pacer Vaibhav Arora over the top, but miscued it towards mid on. Narine took a few steps back and pouched the catch overhead to give KKR an important breakthrough in the Powerplay.
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