Chasing Kolkata Knight Riders' improbable target of 224 in the first versus second clash of the Indian Premier League season 2024 on Tuesday, former champions Rajasthan Royals were 178/7 at the end of the 17th over. What was the equation? Sanju Samson's men needed 46 runs off the final 16 balls. Even though the asking rate was skyrocketing, the Knight Riders never considered themselves as the overwhelming favourites at Eden Gardens. Why? Because Jos Buttler was batting on 67 off 47 balls.

Before RR squared off against KKR in the City of Joy, Buttler won his battle against Virat Kohli by smashing a brilliant century to ace the chase for Rajasthan against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He overshadowed Kohli with his unbeaten century at Jaipur. The England captain missed the next fixture against PBKS due to a niggle. He was struggling with it on Tuesday but thanks to the Impact Player rule, RR kept him away from the field and decided to use him only as a batter against KKR.

With pinch-hitter Sunil Narine notching up his first-ever T20 century and KKR posting another gigantic total at home, RR fans expected a returning Buttler to repeat his batting heroics against KKR at the Eden Gardens. Guess what? Buttler did the same as the Englishman toppled another centurion in the cash-rich league.

RR's go-to batter never lost self-belief in Rajasthan's record-breaking run chase against the two-time champions. Interestingly, Buttler took cues from all-time greats MS Dhoni and Kohli to rescue his side from a precarious position. In conversation with former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar at the post-match presentation, Buttler admitted that he struggled for rhythm during the run-chase. However, Buttler took a leaf out of Dhoni and Kohli to seal a famous win for the Rajasthan Royals.

‘Guys like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli…’

"Keep believing, that was the real key today. I was struggling a bit for rhythm. At times you feel frustrated or you are questioning yourself. I tell myself it's okay, keep going, you'll get your rhythm back and try to stay calm. There's been plenty of times throughout the IPL, you've seen crazy things happen. Guys like Dhoni and Virat Kohli, the way they stay till the end and keep believing and I tried to do the same," Buttler said.

Buttler breaks Kohli's record

Just like Kohli, Narine did everything he could to help his side post a competitive total. Narine played a quick-fire knock of 109 off 56 balls against RR. Outclassing the century-maker in the run chase, Jos bossed the KKR bowlers with his majestic 107-run knock of 60 balls. Achieving a strike rate of over 178, Buttler also shattered Kohli's record in the IPL. Buttler now has the most centuries in run-chases at the IPL. The RR star surpassed Kohli's tally (2) with his third century.

‘Sangakkara just tells me to…’

Batting icon Kohli and England all-rounder Ben Stokes have smashed two centuries while chasing for their respective IPL teams. Buttler also surpassed Chris Gayle on the list of batters with the most IPL centuries. The RR opener is one century away from matching Kohli's record of 8 centuries in the IPL. “That's something Sangakkara has told me a lot - there's always a breaking point. The worse thing you can do is to not fight and give your wicket away. He (Sangakkara) just tells me to stay there and at some point, the momentum will change. That's been a big part of my play over the last few years,” Buttler added.

Read Also: kylian mbappe auditions for real madrid as psg dump barcelona out of champions league: 3 talking points