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Jos Buttler smashed the first century of IPL 2022 to power Rajasthan Royals to 23-run win over five-time champions Mumbai Indians, who slumped to their second consecutive defeat on Saturday, The Indian Express reported.

Opening the innings after being sent into bat, Buttler hit a whirlwind 100 off 68 balls, only his second ton in the history of the IPL. He struck 11 boundaries and five sixes during his knock. Besides Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer (35 off 14) looked in destructive form while skipper Sanju Samson (30 off 21) too got a start. Jasprit Bumrah (3/17) was the pick of the bowlers for MI.

Chasing the total, Tilak Verma smashed 61 off 33 balls, while opener Ishan Kishan made 54 off 43 balls but it was not enough to guide MI home as they finished at 170 for eight. Yuzvendra Chahal once again shone bright with the ball picking up two wickets for 26 runs from his four overs, according to The Indian Express.

The Lucknow Super Giants made a terrific comeback on Thursday to defeat defending champions Chennai Super Kings in a high-scoring thriller at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, Hindustan Times reported.

Chasing a target of 211, LSG batters Evin Lewis and Ayush Badoni scored 25 runs in Shivam Dube's 19th over of the game to take the game away from CSK, as the tournament debutants registered a six-wicket victory.

CSK rode on contributions from Robin Uthappa (50), Moeen Ali (35), and Dube (49), as the Super Kings reached 210/7 with former captain MS Dhoni making a strong cameo (16* off 6 balls).

In reply, Lucknow got off to a fantastic start with De Kock and Lokesh Rahul (40) putting on 99 runs for the first wicket. The CSK did grab quick wickets in the middle overs but Evin Lewis continued to score at a brisk rate to keep LSG within the target distance.

Lewis smacked six fours and three sixes to help Lucknow close the gap as Shivam Dube’s penultimate over went for 25 runs. Young Ayush Badoni once again stole the show with two sixes in the final over, taking Lucknow across the finish line with three balls to spare, according to Hindustan Times.

The LSG are mentored by former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir and following a close finish, he was seen interacting with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, under whose captaincy Gambhir has played a large part of his international career.

He also posted a heartwarming picture with Dhoni after the game that went viral on social media.

“It was nice catching up skipper!” Gambhir wrote, as he was seen talking to Dhoni in the picture, Hindustan Times reported.

Karan KC claimed five wickets including a hat-trick as Nepal reached the final of the Tri-Nation T20I Series on Thursday.

In the match played at the TU ground in Kirtipur on Thursday, Nepal hammered Papua New Guinea by 37 runs.

Chasing the target of 204 runs, PNG were bowled out in 166 runs in 19.4 overs. This is PNG’s third consecutive defeat.

Karan KC took five wickets at the cost of 21 runs in 3.4 overs. This is the first time that the Nepali bowler claimed five wickets in the T20 International.

Abinash Bohara and Sompal Kami took two wickets each while skipper Sandeep Lamichhane claimed one wicket.

Sent into bat first after losing the toss, Nepal scored 203 runs in allotted 20 overs losing six wickets.

Dipendra Singh Airee scored highest 66 runs off 33 balls hitting for sixes and three fours.

Similarly, Rohit Paudel made 41 runs of 23 balls with two sixes and four boundaries.

Opener Asif Sheikh made 38 runs off 29 balls hitting one six and four boundaries. Kushal Bhurtel scored 17 runs off 20 balls and Mohammad Adil Ahamad contributed 31 runs of 11 balls.

Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga returned figures of 4-20 to set up a three-wicket victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore in a low-scoring IPL thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday, AFP reported.

Hasaranga's inspired spell of leg-spin helped bowl out Kolkata for 128, a total Bangalore overhauled with four balls to spare after some late drama at Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium.

Fast bowlers Tim Southee and Umesh Yadav claimed five wickets between them to rattle the Bangalore top and middle-order before Sherfane Rutherford's 28 and an unbeaten 14 off seven by Dinesh Karthik got the team home.

Bangalore, led by new skipper Faf du Plessis, bounced back from their opening loss to register their first win of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

Rutherford, a left-handed West Indies batter, put on key partnerships including a 39-run stand with Shahbaz Ahmed, who made 27, according to AFP.

Southee took down Rutherford and then Hasaranga in one over to keep the game in the balance but Karthik finished it off with a six and a four in the final over off Andre Russell.

Earlier Bangalore's Akash Deep and fellow pace bowler Mohammed Siraj rattled the Kolkata top-order.

Hasaranga soon combined to send back skipper Shreyas Iyer for 13 and then two successive scalps in one over as Kolkata slipped to 66-7.

Russell attempted to hit back with his 18-ball 25 but fell caught behind to medium-pace bowler Harshal Patel and the Kolkata innings folded in 18.5 overs.

The world's most valuable cricket tournament has been expanded to 10 teams and 74 matches this season but league games remain restricted to two venues including Pune with limited crowd due to coronavirus-related restrictions, AFP reported.

Lucknow Super Giants, one of the two new teams added to the league, take on holders Chennai Super Kings on Thursday at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium.