In an incident that has taken place for just the second time in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a batter and his runner completed four runs just by running between the wickets during the match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals. The first time such an incident took place was in IPL 2017 during a match between Rising Pune Super Giants (RPSG) and Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings).
RR opener Jos Buttler faced a yorker off Umesh Yadav's bowling on the last ball of the third over and the Englishman squeezed the ball wide of backward point. The ball was being chased by KKR's Venkatesh Iyer, who did well to save a boundary with a full-length dive. But the dive took him far away from the ball which allowed Buttler to come back for a fourth run. It was also the first time a batter had taken four runs between the wickets without an overthrow.
The only other time that a player picked up four runs by running between the wickets in the IPL was Glen Maxwell, who completed a similar feat for the erstwhile Kings XI Punjab. The Australian combined with David Miller to take four runs off Rahul Chahar's bowling during their match against the now-defunct IPL team RPSG. However, on that occasion, the ball hit the wicket and ran away from the fielders before being collected by Ben Stokes. By then, Maxwell and Miller had completed four runs.
It is also worth noting that RSPG reached the final of that season, losing the ultimate match of the IPL by one run to five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI).
The Royals are currently fifth on the league table with six points under their table. Meanwhile, KKR are also in the fight with six points, but are currently sixth on the table after consecutive losses to Delhi Capitals (DC) and then Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
