Jos Buttler’s maiden T20 ton (124) and Sanju Samson’s brisk 48 lifted RR to an imposing total of 220 in their 20 overs. The new SRH opening pair Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow got a decent start, but the middle-order once again couldn’t come to the party, and SRH crashed to a 55-run defeat.
It was Jos Buttler all the way as his 124 set up the win for Rajasthan Royals. The Englishman was due for a big score for a while now. He had threatened to go big in a couple of games earlier this season as well but just couldn’t carry the momentum forward. However, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he turned a sluggish start into a run-fest and only extended SRH’s misery.
A lot had happened in the SRH camp in the lead-up to this encounter. David Warner was sacked as captain, and Kane Williamson replaced the Australian. The 2016 IPL winning skipper was even dropped from the playing XI. SRH director of cricket Tom Moody said,
“We had discussions and decided that two (overseas) batsmen, one all-rounder and Rashid Khan was the best way to go about it. We had to make the hard call – someone had to miss out, and unfortunately for Davey, it’s him.”
Things didn’t look great on or off the field for SRH. It didn’t matter who took over as captain as their performance didn’t see any light of improvement as the same problems continued to haunt them. The middle-order didn’t turn up once again, while the bowling attack just relies too much on Rashid Khan, and the pace attack just don’t seem to be penetrative enough.
SRH won the toss and opted to field first, and ran into a rampaging Buttler as RR made merry. It wasn’t all gloom and doom for SRH. Buttler struggled through the first half of the innings. He couldn’t really force the pace and it was RR skipper Sanju Samson who scored at a fair clip.
SRH introduced Rashid Khan early as he had a solid record against Buttler. However, he bowled his entire first over to Yashasvi Jaiswal and had the left-handed youngster LBW on the last ball of the over. The Afghanistan leg-spinner bowled a second over in the powerplay and troubled Buttler throughout. The latter tried a reverse-sweep and was hit on the pads. The umpire turned down the appeal, but replays showed three reds, and SRH didn’t have a review left. Buttler almost holed out to long-on as well.
He was 8 (13), and a couple of boundaries in the final over of the powerplay saw him get to a run-a-ball. He struggled his way to 35 off 33 at the end of 11 overs. All this while Samson at the other end was striking it fluently. He found the fence with ease and rotated strike really well, scoring 31 off 20.
All it was one scoop for Buttler to find his flow, and then there was no stopping him. It was absolute carnage at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi as Buttler kept sending balls to the fence and into the stands. No SRH bowler was spared, and Samson, at the other end, became a mere spectator. Buttler raised his half-century in 39 deliveries before he flew away to his maiden T20 ton in a mere 56 balls, his second fifty coming in just 17 balls.
Samson was dismissed just before Buttler got to his ton, and he had played second fiddle in the second half perfectly. He was out for 48 off 33 balls. Buttler continued the carnage and scored a stunning 124 before he dragged one back onto his stumps off Sandeep Sharma. Riyan Parag and David Miller struck a six each to propel RR to an imposing total of 220. A staggering 143 runs were scored in the last 10 overs, with Buttler contributing 92 of those. Barring Rashid, none of the SRH bowlers had an economy of under 9 as everyone faced the brunt of Buttler’s brutal knock.
In reply, the new SRH opening pair of Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey gave the side a decent start. Kartik Tyagi, who was playing his first game of the season, got the ball to zip off the track and hurried the batters for pace. SRH could muster just 14 in the first three overs before Bairstow and Pandey went out on the attack. They put on 44 runs in the last three powerplay overs to lift SRH to 57/0.
However, both batters couldn’t carry on and get that big score as they fell in successive overs after the powerplay. Mustafizur Rahman had Pandey chopping one back onto his stumps while Bairstow holed out at long-on to give Rahul Tewatia his first wicket. From then, it was just a matter of time as SRH continued to baffle everyone with their tactics.
Vijay Shankar and Kedar Jadhav were sent out ahead of big-hitters like Mohammad Nabi and Abdul Samad. Shankar and Jadhav struggled along with Kane Williamson and just couldn’t get the boundaries regularly. SRH couldn’t keep up with the required rate and kept losing wickets as well. Williamson, Shankar and Jadhav scored at only a run-a-ball while Nabi and Samad came out swinging.
But it made no difference, as in the end, SRH slumped to a 55-run loss. It was their sixth loss of the season, and they remain at the bottom of the points table. With this win, RR have now moved up to No. 5 on the points table with six points. Their net run rate has also seen a rise.
Brief Scores
Rajasthan Royals 220/3 (Buttler 124, Samson 48; Rashid 1/24) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 165/8 (Pandey 31, Bairstow 30, Mustafizur 3/20, Morris 3/29) by 55 runs
