Jos Buttler’s maiden T20 hundred (124, 64b, 11x4, 8x6) powered Rajasthan Royals to a convincing 55-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Sunday.
RR posted 220, its highest-ever total batting first. Chasing the stiff target, Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey – opening in place of David Warner who was benched – got SRH off to a flying start, adding 57 off 36 balls.
But the Hyderabad side lost both batsmen in the two overs after the PowerPlay; Pandey was clean bowled by Mustafizur Rahman and Bairstow was caught at long-on off Rahul Tewatia. And new skipper Kane Williamson’s dismissal in the 13th over put RR firmly in control.
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Mustafizur (3/20) and Chris Morris (3/29) broke the back of the middle- and lower-orders to hand SRH’s its third consecutive loss, and sixth overall.
RR lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early. Rashid Khan, introduced in the PowerPlay for the first time this season, trapped Jaiswal in front with a slider. Rashid could have nailed Buttler too had Vijay Shankar not misjudged a catch at long-on.
Buttler and captain Sanju Samson (48, 33b, 4x4, 2x6) exploded in the seventh over, carting Vijay Shankar for a six each and accumulating 18 runs. Samson was reprieved on 23 when Pandey dropped a simple chance at long-off, a costly miss as the Buttler-Samson duo eventually put on 150 runs.
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Buttler reached his fifty with a six, before following it up with a flat-batted four over extra-cover, taking 17 off seamer Sandeep Sharma’s third over.
Samson joined the party with a boundary over short third-man, with the shot also bringing up the century partnership. In the 15th over, bowled by Mohammed Nabi, Buttler collected 21 runs with two fours and two sixes.
Buttler brought up his first IPL century, off 56 balls, before clobbering 24 in the 19th over bowled by Sandeep to take RR past 200, a total that proved beyond SRH.