Jos Buttler smashed his fourth century this season to help Rajasthan Royals qualify for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 final. On Friday night, the inaugural season champions defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 7 wickets in the second qualifier in Ahmedabad. They will now face debutant Gujarat Titans on may 29 in the final showdown.
After a long period of 14 years, the Royals have entered an IPL finale. Buttler carried his bat and ensured a memorable win for the Royals. The Englishman stole the show once again, smashing an unbeaten 106 off 60 balls in the chase of 158. During his stint at the crease, he also crossed the 800-run to retain the Orange Cap. His blistering knock consisted of 10 boundaries and 6 maximums.
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Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal provided a flying start to the RR innings. The latter smashed 16 runs in the first over and then it was Buttler who took the RCB bowlers to the cleaners. He scored his 5th fifty in the ongoing season off just 23 deliveries and stitched a 61-run opening stand before his opening partner was dismissed by Hazlewood in the 6th overs.
Buttler continued toying with the RCB bowlers and put another fifty-plus stand for the second wicket with Sanju Samson. Once the RR skipper was departed for 23 off 21, the opening batter took the anchored the chase single-handedly and sealed a historic win with a gigantic six against Harshal Patel in the 19th over.
Earlier, RR fast bowler Prasidh Krishna came back strongly from the hammering he received in the last game to help his team restrict RCB to 157 for eight.
Rajat Patidar extended his stellar run in the IPL with a 42-ball 58 but his effort was the lone bright spot of the RCB innings as the other batters struggled on a pitch that offered extra bounce to the pacers.
Royals gained the upper hand by taking five wickets in the last five overs that went for only 34 runs. He played with supreme confidence after high-profile openers Virat Kohli (7) and Faf du Plessis (25) failed to come up with impactful knocks.
The RR pace duo of Trent Boult (1/28) and Krishna (3/22) were impressive throughout the innings.
Kohli started with a spectacular six off Boult, a whip over deep square leg, before falling to a loose shot off Krishna. It was a wide ball that rose sharply and Kohli played away from his body to edge it to the wicketkeeper. The extra bounce contributed to his dismissal.
Patidar joined du Plessis in the middle and again played as if he was batting on a different surface. He was dropped by Riyan Parag at backward point early in the innings after he collected two fours off Krishna in the same over. Both were delightful strokes, the first being a cracking cut shot before a stunning back-foot punch between the cover and backward point.
He also went after the star spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in the middle overs and brought up his fifty with a clean strike over long-off.
(With PTI Inputs)
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