Jos Buttler smashed his maiden century and shared a partnership of 150 with Sanju Samson as Rajasthan Royals reached 220/3 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
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Jos Buttler became the third player to smash a century in IPL 202. His brilliant knock, combined with 150-run stand with Sanju Samson helped Rajasthan Royals reach 220/3 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in New Delhi. Buttler joined his skipper and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Devdutt Padikkal as the other players to have hit a century in this edition of the IPL. Buttler, though, registered the highest individual score by a batsman in IPL 2021, beating the 119 set by Samson against Punjab Kings.
Sunrisers Hyderabad opted to bowl and under new skipper Kane Williamson, they tried something different. In the third over, Rashid Khan immediately got success by removing Yashasvi Jaiswal cheaply. From that point on, it was the Jos Buttler-Samson show. Samson got going with a six off Khaleel Ahmed and Buttler played out Rashid as Rajasthan Royals reached 42/1 in the powerplay.
In the first over after the powerplay, Buttler and Samson hit a six each of Vijay Shankar as the bowler leaked 18 runs. Samson brought up the 50-run stand with a four off Khaleel through cover. The Rajasthan Royals skipper benefited from a dropped catch by Manish Pandey off Sandeep Sharma as the partnership grew.
Rashid bowled his spell in the 11th over to end with good figures of 1/24 from four overs. Having neutralized Sunrisers’ key bowler, both batsmen opened up. Buttler notched up his 12th IPL fifty by hammering Sandeep Sharma over long-off. The right-hander followed it up with a tennis forehand smash through extra cover.
Samson notched up the 100-run stand by edging Khaleel to the third man fence. But, Buttler dealt in sixes. The 15th over bowled by Mohammad Nabi changed the entire equation. Buttler hit two fours and two sixes as 21 runs came in the over. Samson and Buttler each hit a four off Bhuvneshwar as Rajasthan Royals eyed a score near 200.
An outside edge and a crunched drive took Buttler to 99 but in the 17th over, Shankar got the wicket of Samson for 48 with Abdul Samad taking a good catch. However, Buttler joined Kevin Pietersen, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow as the other England players to have reached a century in the IPL.
Riyan Paraga got a promotion and he started with a big six off Bhuvneshwar. Buttler continued on his merry ways as he pounded three sixes and a four in one over of Sandeep. However, Sandeep had the last laugh as Buttler was bowled for 124. Sunrisers Hyderabad leaked 95 runs in the last six overs as Rajasthan Royals crossed the 200-run mark. For Sunrisers Hyderabad to stay alive in the playoff race in IPL 2021, Bairstow holds the key.
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