Jos Buttler’s batting masterclass powered Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a crucial win over Kane Williamson-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in match 28 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the famous Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday. Making sure that a depleted Royals side return back to winning ways, the Englishman slammed his maiden ton in the cash-rich league as Sanju Samson’s men outclassed the David Warner-less side by 55 runs.
A day after sacking Warner from the captainship, the SRH made another shocking decision by dropping the former skipper from the playing XI. Warner, who guided the Hyderabad-based franchise to their maiden title in 2016 was left out from the playing XI after the franchise’s dreadful run in the initial stages of the cash-rich league. Mohammad Nabi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Abdul Samad replaced Jagadeesha Suchith, Siddarth Kaul, and Warner in the SRH playing XI for their clash with the 2008 champions.
Batting first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, premier batsmen Buttler and Sanju Samson tormented the SRH bowling unit spearheaded by senior pacer Bhuvneshwar and spin wizard Rashid Khan. While skipper Samson played 33-ball 48, opener Buttler was a star turnout for the Royals as the Englishman notched up his maiden century in the IPL. Dealing with only sixes and boundaries, Buttler smashed a scintillating 64-ball 124 to help RR post 220-3 in 20 overs. Buttler’s quick-fire 124 is the highest score by a Rajasthan Royals batsman in the IPL.
Asked to chase down the mammoth target, Warner-less SRH made a positive start with Manish Pandey (31) and Jonny Bairstow (30) but the premier batsmen failed to fill the void of out-of-favour Warner in the high-scoring contest. Besides Pandey and Bairstow, only Williamson made a start for the SRH side before the newly appointed was removed by Kartik Tyagi in the 13th
While Mustafizur Rahman cleaned up an in-form Pandey, Chris Morris got the better of Vijay Shankar and Kedar Jadhav to put RR in the driving seat. Mustafizur and Morris shared six wickets for RR to restrict SRH to 165-8 in 20 overs. With the win, Samson’s RR have climbed the 5th spot in the IPL 2021 standings.
