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Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh reserved high praise for Englland's limited overs skipper and Rajasthan Royals opener, Joss Buttler, following his sensational ton that carried the table-toppers across the line in a thrilling last-ball chase against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
In, perhaps, the most absorbing clash in the ongoing IPL season, the Royals chased down the joint-highest total in the history of the tournament at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Departing, for once, from his typical slam-bang approach, Buttler chose to settle in and grow into his innings while keeping his team at par with the asking rate. However, after the dismissal of Rovman Powell, who thrilled the full house at Eden with his power-hitting in a useful cameo, Buttler chose to open out sensing he was running out of partners. Till the 11th over of the Royals' innings, Buttler scored at a strike rate of 132 but in the next nine overs, he shifted gears and finished off the chase with an unbeaten 107 at a strike rate of 178.33. With the league leaders needing to go hell for leather, needing 46 runs off just 18 deliveries, Buttler smacked four towering sixes and two boundaries to enable the Royals to pull off a heist. In a match where the momentum swung back and forth like a pendulum, the 33-year-old Englishman produced a knock for the ages, wowing not just the RR fans but the Turbanator as well. "This was the best match of the ongoing IPL season for me. Buttler's knock only served to reinforce the saying that if you keep believing in yourself, anything is possible. He was uncharacteristically slow at the start and took some time to grow into his innings and find momentum. The fall of wickets around him affected his momentum. After Powell's dismissal, the onus was on Buttler to face and make the most of the final 20 balls. You rarely get to see knocks like this. This was an inning that would live on in the minds of cricket fanatics worldwide. It would surely stay with me," Harbhajan, nicknamed 'The Turbanator' during his playing days, said on his official YouTube channel. In the first innings, the Knights, riding on dasher Sunil Narine's debut IPL ton, set the second-highest total in IPL history. In the face of an assault from southpaw Narine, the experienced Royals' spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal conceded a combined 103 runs in 8 overs. Chahal picked up a wicket in the bargain while Ashwin went wicketless. Harbhajan weighed in on the reason why Narine rode roughshod over Ashwin and Chahal. "Ashwin didn't bowl a single ball into the stumps. He kept most of his deliveries wide which was the reason that he conceded so many runs. Both bowlers are well-known for their skill-sets but there wasn't much thinking or planning that went into their bowling on the day," Harbhajan added. (ANI)
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