Having won their opening match of the season, Rajasthan Royals were always going into the duel against Mumbai Indians with confidence.4
- SCORECARD
And when Rohit Sharma called rightly at the toss and put Rajasthan in to bat, Captain Sanju Samson declared, ‘We would have batted first.’
When Openers Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal went in to bat, the Englishman went after Dan Sams, taking him for 8 runs in the second over.
Although Jasprit Bumrah took out Jaiswal, Buttler went on a rampage against Basil Thampi, smoking him for 26 runs — the over went 0-4-6-6-4-6! That the bowler gifted length balls only aided Buttler’s cause.
After Devdutt Padikkal was dismissed soon after, Buttler joined forces with Samson as they rotated the strike while finding the big runs.
Buttler completed his half-century in the eighth over, hitting Sams for back-to-back fours.
Along with Samson, he continued to smash the bowling around, this time hitting Tymal Mills and Murugan Ashwin in consecutive overs, taking 35 runs off them.
Overs 12 to 15 didn’t see as many big shots as Buttler and Samson were happy to rotate the strike while getting the odd boundary every over.
Once Samson was dismissed, Buttler allowed Shimron Hetmyer to take centre stage for a couple of overs before bringing up his second IPL century with a quick single in the 19th over as Bumrah’s appeal for an LBW was turned down.
He was dismissed two balls later for 100, but he had done the job — scoring a strike rate of 147 — to take Rajasthan to a massive total.
The pitch was a batting paradise, but that doesn’t take away from how Buttler paced his innings and then attacked when he could. He didn’t play rash shots and middled every ball.
In his 82-run partnership with Samson and then the 50-run stand with Hetmyer, Buttler allowed both batters to play their game without hogging deliveries.
His contribution didn’t just end with the bat — during Mumbai’s innings he took a superb, tough catch, running backwards to dismiss Sams for a golden duck.
Buttler lived true to being the mainstay for Rajasthan Royals on Saturday, and more will be expected of him in this long season.
- IPL 2022
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