IPL 2023, KKR vs RR Emotional Rollercoaster: Hetmyer photo-bombs, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s hundredsque 97 & Nitish Rana’s howler over

Fading genius
Sunil Narine is clearly not the bowler he used to be in his pomp, and it seems to be playing on his mind. He has taken just seven wickets this season, at an economy rate of 8.50, but only one in the last nine games. One wonders why the Kolkata Knight Riders think tank has persed with him for the whole season. He even dropped an easy skier off his own bowling. Given that he is no longer capable of big hits with the bat, it remains to be seen whether the franchise keeps him for the next season, or he goes the way of his fellow West Indians Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard. With another KKR stalwart Andre Russell being more miss than hit this season, the situation seems ripe for a generational shift in the franchise.
– Tushar Bhaduri
A 97 as good as a 100
Whether leg-spinner Suyash Sharma intentionally bowled the last ball of the 13th over down the leg-side for a wide that could have ended Yashasvi Jaiswal’s chance for completing his second hundred of this edition was unsure. But had Sanju Samson not blocked the ball, with an outstretched front-foot defensive shot, it would have raced to the fence. Soon after the block, he raised his bat and helmet at Jaiswal, as if telling him that he had defended the ball so that he could complete the milestone. At that point, Rajasthan Royals needed just three runs to win while Jaiswal was six shy of the three-figure mark. A six lurked, and Shardul Thakur obliged with a low full toss, which Jaiswal could only flick for a four, as he ended the night on a stupendous 97 not out. It did not matter that he could not complete the hundred, as he celebrated buoyantly. He tugged at his team’s logo, raised the bat skywards, bowed at the crowd and stretched his arms, as though urging his teammates to embrace him.
– Sandip G
Hetmyer leaps into frame
Shimron Hetmyer pounced in like a photo-bomber. He was never meant to be in the frame. Jason Roy’s meaty flick was flying over the fence—the bat-on-ball acoustic was like a rifle’s crack—and the commentators were gushing adjectives on the dazzle of the shot when Hetmyer intervened and changed the dimensions of the picture. He made the stealthiest of runs from deep square leg, leapt to his right to grab the ball on the go. The landing was smooth, the balance immaculate like a dancer’s and he flashed that 1000 watt smile of his. Roy looked stunned, as did Trent Boult the bowler, before he rushed to thank the fielder. How Hetmyer ruined his perfect picture for Roy and KKR.
– Sandip G

150 runs chased down in just 13.1 overs. @rajasthanroyals have won this in a jiffy with Yashasvi Jaiswal smashing an incredible 98* from just 47 balls.
Scorecard – https://t.co/jOscjlr121 #TATAIPL #KKRvRR #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/2u0TiGPI
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 11, 2023
Master batsman tried with the ball
He has been inducted for his prowess with the bat, and after being used merely as a fielder on his IPL debut, the first important role Joe Root got to play for Rajasthan Royals was with the ball. Influenced no doubt the presence of two left-handers at the crease, and the reputation of the Eden Gardens pitch to aid spinners, the Englishman was included as a third spin option alongside Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. And the part-timer did a decent job in his first over, conceding only seven runs, two of them leg-es. Root bowled mostly with a side-arm action, firing the ball at the stumps, intent on not giving any width. He tried a few more things in his second over, flighting the odd one, while conceding a boundary off the glove as Nitish Rana attempted a sweep. Only eight came off the over as Root managed to keep it relatively quiet.
– Tushar Bhaduri
Iyer frustrates
Venkatesh Iyer had a nightmarish start to his innings. Despite coming to bat inside the Powerplay, he could hardly manage to put bat to ball. He had scored just two in 12 balls, and 10 off 20, before breaking the shackles with a slog-swept six off R Ashwin. The left-hander showed next ball what makes him a dangerous customer as he stepped out to hit the off-spinner over extra cover for another maximum. But it didn’t open the floodgates as Iyer put the big shots back in the locker before targeting Yuzvendra Chahal with a straight six and a pulled four in the 13th over. Another four over extra cover, with the bottom hand coming off the bat, signalled that he was ready to take off. But the all-out attack never came and after a six over long-on off KM Asif, Iyer departed when he miscued a wide one from Chahal for a 42-ball 57. An innings of a few big shots, but not much urgency otherwise.
– Tushar Bhaduri

Nitish bowls a howler over
It would go down as the most brutal first over in IPL hory—it already is the most expensive first over ever bowled in the league. It was a gamble alright, Nitish Rana, the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper taking the new ball himself. It was not a leap of faith, but a plunge into silliness. After all, KKR have pedigreed spinners like Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma amidst them. Opening with a spinner has long lost its novelty too. But whatever the rationale behind it may be, the move gloriously backfired. Yashaswi Jaiswal is schooled in the Mumbai batting ethos of destroying spinners of ordinary nature. So the first ball, he lilted down the track and swung him over long. The second ball was fired in down the leg-side and heaved into the stands. Rana was fortunate that the third ball did not end up outside the arena. A full toss outside the offside stump, he crunched it through covers for a four. Rana went short and Jaiswal brutally cut it towards the fence. The sequence of boundaries were broken as Jaiswal could only manage a double next ball. But the boundary service resumed when he obliged another shortish offering past backward point for 26 runs. It set the tone for the fastest 50 in IPL hory too, as Jaiswal brought up his half century in just 14 balls.
– Sandip G