17 April,2024 08:07 AM IST | Kolkata | Arup Chatterjee
KKR’s Sunil Narine celebrates his century v RR at Eden Gardens in Kolkata yesterday. Pic/PTI
Sunil Narine flew to his first IPL century as the Kolkata Knight Riders set Rajasthan Royals a target of 224 at a packed Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old southpaw, who returned figures of 4-0-17-1 against the Lucknow Super Giants a couple of days ago, decided he would flaunt his batting skills on Tuesday as he reached the three-figure mark off just 49 deliveries with 11 fours and six sixes. It required the guile of Trent Boult to finally dismiss him in the 18th over for a 56-ball 109. It was the first century by a Knight in front of their home crowd.
Narine, who joined KKR 12 years ago, has many top performances under his belt but he displayed how much Tuesday's feat meant to him with a rare show of emotion.
With both Boult and Avesh Khan on the money from the onset, KKR's openers couldn't quite find the flow initially. Phil Salt should have departed in the second ball of the match had Riyan Parag not dropped an easy offering at gully. The Englishman couldn't make the most of the reprieve as Avesh pulled off a fine catch off his own bowling.
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New man Angkrish Raghuvanshi was into the groove straightaway, clipping Boult off his pads for a four to mid-wicket and then driving another through point.
Meanwhile, Narine was coming into his own, and announced the assault with a six and a fours off Kuldeep Sen in the final over of Powerplay. With five classy boundaries, Raghuvanshi was looking good when he fell for an 18-ball 30 trying another ambitious shot.
Wickets fell fairly regularly at the other end but Narine kept the momentum going.
Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, expected to make inroads in the middle overs, but failed.
Andre Russell entered to a huge roar but he too was gone while promising a big one.
Avesh, who ended with impressive figures of 4-0-35-2 amidst the carnage, had the big man reaching for a square-cut that went straight to deep backward point. Rinku Singh hit one four and two sixes to remain unbeaten after a typical cameo of 20 off nine balls.
The Royals have a stiff target but have the batsmen to take on the challenge.
