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IPL 2021: Jos Buttler cooks a grand recipe, Rajasthan Royals savour win over SRH
The England keeper-batsman scores 124, the highest score of IPL 2021, as RR ease to victory over bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The writing was on the wall for Sunrisers Hyderabad. With one win in six games and languishing at the bottom of the points table, SRH would have hoped for a miracle when they took on Rajasthan Royals on Sunday. In the end, it turned out to be a non-contest as RR posted a 55-run win.
SRH had axed David Warner as skipper and appointed Kane Williamson, indicating the crisis within the team. Still, Hyderabad had no clue when Jos Buttler and skipper Sanju Samson got going. A benign Ferozeshah Kotla pitch did the bowlers no good and RR feasted on the hapless bowling, scoring 220 in the process.
Buttler, one of the finest batsman in this format in the world, smashed his first IPL century, a brilliant 124 off 64 balls. He smashed 11 fours and eight sixes. Samson got 48 and by the time their partnership was broken, RR knew anything below 200 would mean not doing justice to the way the innings had shaped up early on.
Williamson came up with new strategies, like bowling trump card Rashid Khan in the powerplay, but this was a double-edged weapon. It ended up hurting SRH as his quota got over much before the slog overs. Williamson got caught in the trap as his fifth bowler—a combination of Mohammad Nabi and Vijay Shankar—conceded 63 runs off the four overs. Everyone else too got hit for runs and Williamson had no place to hide them. Dropping a catch each of Samson and Buttler also signified luck turning its back on SRH.
“It was great to spend time out there and have fun. I didn’t find it easy at the start. I haven’t been feeling at my best form for a while now. At times I have been guilty of trying to get back into form too quickly and not give myself a chance. I just got better as the innings went on,” Buttler said later on his batting.
Sunrisers Hyderabad never looked in the game after conceding the joint second highest total of the season. Chasing the massive total, they struggled to maintain the required run-rate and gave away wickets at regular intervals. Warner was dropped and openers Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow gave Hyderabad a flying start, but in pursuit of runs at a good pace, both got out, scoring 31 and 30 each. A slower delivery from Mustafizur Rahman beat Pandey as he was bowled. Rahul Tewatia got Bairstow.
A stand out performance from Williamson could have got SRH back on track. However, the Kiwi went early, scoring 20 off 21 balls before becoming young pacer Kartik Tyagi’s first wicket in this edition. And just when Nabi was cutting loose, Mustafizur Rahman got him. Nabi made 17 off five balls. In the end, Rajasthan Royals walked away with an impressive win.
