New Delhi, May 2
Jos Buttler roared back to form with a breath-taking maiden T20 century with eight sixes, powering Rajasthan Royals to a commanding 220 for 3 against SunRisers Hyderabad in an IPL game on Sunday.
Buttler (124 off 64 balls) and skipper Sanju Samson, who smashed 48 off 33 balls, stitched a 150-run partnership for the second wicket after the Royals lost opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (12) cheaply.
While the Englishman hit the ball 11 fours apart from eight maximums, Samson also had four fours and two sixes to his credit.
For SRH, Rashid Khan (1/24), Vijay Shankar (1/42) and Sandeep Sharma (1/50) picked a wicket each.
Put into bat, the Royals were off to a sedate start as they managed just five runs of the first two overs.
Newly-recruited SRH skipper Kane Williamson, searching for wickets early on in the innings, introduced spin in third over by bringing in star bowler Rashid.
Jaiswal smashed three fours, before the Afghan showed his class and trapped the youngster leg before.
RR skipper Samson, who was dropped on 23 by Manish Pandey in 10th over, announced his arrival with a six over mid-wicket off pacer Khaleel Ahmed.
On the other end Buttler, who looked in sublime touch, also hit Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two boundaries in the sixth over as the Royals amassed 42 runs for the loss of one wicket in the Powerplay.
The duo continued to hit boundaries at regular intervals at the small Feroz Shah Kotla ground, collecting 18 runs, which included two sixes, off all-rounder Vijay Shankar in the seventh over.
Having successfully navigated Rashid’s four overs, Buttler and Samson upped the ante in the 13th over, plundering 17 runs.
The Englishman muscled a six over wide long on before lofting one over extra-cover for boundary.
With all bowlers leaking runs, Williamson turned to Mohammad Nabi, who is playing his second game of the season, but Buttler hammered the off-spinner for two sixes and as many fours.
Vijay Shankar managed to get rid of Samson in the 17th over with young Riyan Parag walking in.
There was no stopping Buttler, who was in complete control, as he continued to hit boundaries at will. Sandeep Sharma, eventually brought his innings to an end of the penultimate over.
SunRisers were guilty of being sloppy in the field, dropping catches and missing run outs.
