Following his side’s six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson lauded Jos Buttler’s century, saying it was a matter of time before he came good with the bat. Virat Kohli’s blitzkrieg century went in vain as Jos Buttler’s thunderous hundred lit up the Sawai Mansingh Stadium to power Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Saturday.
Following the match, Samson said during the post-match presentation, “I think anything below 190, with a little bit of dew coming in, with the batting order we have, I felt it was a good total to chase. Touchwood, few more games to go, we are bowling well. And we have got a break, which is helping us charge up and come in fresh. It was just a matter of time with Jos. He just needed to get through the powerplay and middle a few balls.”
Jos’s century came after a long period of struggle. Before this century, Buttler had scored just 183 runs in his previous ten IPL innings, which included three ducks and a knock of 95 against Sunrisers Hyderabad last year.
Coming to the match, RR put RCB to field first after winning the toss. Despite an opening partnership of 125 runs between skipper Faf Du Plessis (44 in 33 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Virat Kohli (113* in 72 balls, with 12 fours and four sixes), RCB failed to put up a fine total on the board, settling for 183/3 in their 20 overs.
Yuzvendra Chahal (2/34) was the pick of the bowlers for RR. Nandre Burger also took a wicket.
In the run-chase, RR did lose Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck. But skipper Sanju Samson (69 in 42 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) joined forces with Jos Buttler (100* in 58 balls, with nine fours and four sixes), who roared back into form with a century in his 100th IPL match. Despite some quick wickets later, RR chased down the total with five balls and six wickets in hand.
Reece Topley (2/27) was the pick of the bowlers for RCB. Yash Dayal and Mohammed Siraj took a wicket each but it was not enough.
Buttler took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
RR is at the top spot, having won four of their four games, which gives them eight points. RCB is in the eighth spot with a win in their five matches, giving them only two points.
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