Shah Rukh Khan Hugs Jos Buttler: Despite his team, Kolkata Knight Riders, ending up on the losing side, Shah Rukh Khan showed great spirit by giving a warm hug to Jos Buttler, who powered Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling win in a last-ball nail-biter on Tuesday night at the Eden Gardens.
Buttler’s stunning century overpowered Sunil Narine’s brilliant all-round show in Kolkata, denying KKR what seemed like a comfortable fifth win of the season for Shreyas Iyer’s side. RR took their sixth win in seven matches in IPL 2024 and moved closer to sealing a playoff spot.
Sunil Narine scored 109 runs, helping KKR reach 223, and the mystery spinner also took a couple of wickets. KKR’s win looked the likely result when RR needed 96 runs in 36 balls with only Jos Buttler and Rovman Powell left as proper batters for RR, and Buttler wasn’t hitting it well enough.
However, the momentum shifted drastically, and RR bounced back through some jaw-dropping hitting, mostly from Buttler, while Powell played his role in hammering Narine for 16 runs in the 17th over.
Buttler was 42 (33) at the end of the 14th over. He then clobbered 65 runs in merely 27 balls to end up with 107* (60) and hit the winning runs on the last ball of the match with one run required off one ball.
This was the Englishman’s second century of IPL 2024, and an even better one than he hit against RCB 10 days ago, considering he was battling a hamstring injury.
Video: Shah Rukh Khan Hugs Jos Buttler Despite Loss
After the match, as the players and staff congregated to cool down, KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan gave another example of his humility by greeting and hugging the players of both sides.
He approached Jos Buttler with a smile before embracing the RR opener in a warm hug and congratulating him on his match-winning century.
The video of this brief interaction between Buttler and Bollywood’s King Khan has gone viral. Fans are praising Shah Rukh for this gesture toward the opposing team’s player who defeated his side.
Watch the video here:
Buttler didn’t field and came in to bat as an Impact Sub. He was allowed the time to settle in as his batting partners played brief but quick-fire cameos at good strike rates that didn’t let the required rate go beyond reach.
Buttler’s experience and power-hitting came to the fore in the last few overs when he played the last 18 balls of RR’s innings while batting with tailenders Trent Boult and Avesh Khan. He ran some swift twos even while struggling with a hamstring injury.
Check Out: Shah Rukh Khan Hugs Jos Buttler
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