IPL fanbase witnessed another high scoring game where Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 2 wickets at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday, April 16. In the game RR successfully chased down the target of 224 which is the joint highest successful target achieved. The previous one was also achieved by RR against PBKS in Sharjah, 2020. 

Highest successful run-chases in the IPL

Target	Team	Against	Margin by Wickets	Balls remaining	Venue, Year
224	RR	PBKS	4	3	Sharjah, 2020
224	RR	KKR	2	0	Kolkata, 2024
219	MI	CSK	4	0	Delhi, 2021
215	RR	Deccan Chargers	6	1	Hyderabad, 2008
215	MI	PBKS	3	7	Mohali, 2023

Stats:

96 is the highest target successfully achieved in the last six overs of an IPL run-chase. The previous record belonges to RR. Where Rahul Tewatia’s 31-ball 53, sealed a win after needing 92 off 36 in Sharjah in 2020 against Punjab.

Rajasthan Royals added 103 runs after the fall of the sixth wicket is the most scored by a team in a winning cause in the IPL. The previous record was 91 – held by Royal Challengers Bengaluru. AB de Villiers and Iqbal Abdullah puts an 91* partnership in their 159-run chase against the Gujarat Lions in the Qualifier 1 of 2016 played in Bengaluru.

The unbeaten 38-run stand between Jos Buttler and Avesh Khan is the second highest partnership for ninth wicket or below in a successful IPL run-chase. 41 added by Dwayne Bravo and Imran Tahir for CSK against MI in the IPL 2018 opener played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

In 17 seasons only 3 players of Kolkata Knight Riders managed to score a century. Sunil Narine’s 109 off 56 being the latest entry to the list. Brendon McCullum was the first to score a century for KKR against RCB in the first ever game of IPL 2008. Venkatesh Iyer scored 104 against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium last year. Two of the three IPL hundreds for KKR (Iyer and Narine’s) have ended in defeats.

Sunil Narine became the first ever player to register a hundred, bag a wicket and take a catch in an IPL game. Before Narine, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson – had managed to score a hundred and take a wicket in the same IPL match (twice each).

Century and at least one wicket in an IPL match

Batting	Bowling	Player	Team	Against	Venue, Year
107	3/21	Chris Gayle	RCB	PBKS	Bengaluru, 2011
175*	2/5	Chris Gayle	RCB	PWI	Bengaluru, 2013
104*	2/38	Shane Watson	RR	KKR	Brabourne, 2015
106	1/13	Shane Watson	CSK	RR	Pune, 2018
109	2/30	Sunil Narine	KKR	RR	Kolkata, 2024

Jos Buttler

With this century Buttler has 7 centuries in IPL, now he is only behind Virat Kohli’s eight.

3 hundreds by Buttler while batting second in the IPL is the most by a batter. The only other players to score multiple IPL hundreds in run-chases are Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes. Kohli did it for RCB twice while Stokes did it for Pune and Rajasthan.

Buttler faced 33 balls for his 42 across the first 14 overs of the innings on Tuesday. Then he smashed 65 off 27 in the final six in a stunning display of ball-striking.

Buttler’s innings progression

Phase of play     Pace of his innings

Overs 1-6     20 off 12 (SR: 166.67, 4s/6s: 2/1)

Overs 7-14     22 off 21 (SR: 104.76, 4s/6s: 1/0)

Overs 15-20     65 off 27 (SR: 240.74, 4s/6s: 6/5)

Butler also became the first player to smash multiple IPL tons against two different teams (MI & KKR).

More than one century against a team in the IPL

3 – KL Rahul vs MI

2 – Jos Buttler vs KKR

2 – Jos Buttler vs RCB

2 – Chris Gayle vs PBKS

2 – Virat Kohli vs GL

2 – David Warner vs KKR

Six times two hundreds were registered in an IPL game, four of which have come only in 2023 and 2024 editions. Jos Buttler of Rajasthan Royals was involved in both matches in 2024.

Two hundreds in an IPL match

Batter 1	Batter 2	Match	Venue, Year
Virat Kohli (109 off 55)	AB de Villiers (129* off 52)	RCB vs GL	Bengaluru, 2016
Jonny Bairstow (114 off 56)	David Warner (100* off 55)	SRH vs RCB	Hyderabad, 2019
Heinrich Klaasen (104 off 51)	Virat Kohli (100 off 63)	SRH vs RCB	Hyderabad, 2023
Virat Kohli (101* off 61)	Shubman Gill (104* off 52)	RCB vs GT	Bengaluru, 2023
Virat Kohli (113* off 72)	Jos Buttler (100* off 58)	RCB vs RR	Jaipur, 2024
Sunil Narine (109 off 56)	Jos Buttler (107* off 60)	KKR vs RR	Kolkata, 2024

8 hundreds for Jos Buttler in T20 cricket, joins the tally with Michael Klinger, Aaron Finch, David Warner, Rohit Sharma. Chris Gayle (22), Babar Azam (11) and Virat Kohli (9) have more hundreds than him. Each of Buttler’s eight T20 hundreds have come in wins. Only Gayle has more hundreds in a winning cause (16).