Jaipur: Jos Buttler ended his recent lean run in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 with a dazzling 95 while captain Sanju Samson was fantastic in his unbeaten 66 as Rajasthan Royals posted a massive 214/2 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Sunday.
Just 48 hours ago, Rajasthan were bowled out for 118 on this pitch and on Sunday, they have now made the highest IPL score at this venue. Buttler took time in finding his rhythm and was 20 off 20 balls at one point, before finding his touch and smashing boundaries on both sides of the ‘V’ while latching onto anything with width to make 95 off 59 balls.
He was also involved in a massive 138-run partnership off 81 balls with Samson, who was glittering in his attacking shots during his 38-ball stay at the crease. For Hyderabad’s bowlers, barring conceding only 12 runs overall in the 18th and 19th overs, there wasn’t much noteworthy.
Electing to bat first, Yashasvi Jaiswal gave Rajasthan another quick start with a four on the very first ball going just over leaping mid-on and ending the opening over off Bhuvneshwar Kumar with another four thanks to fine-leg making a mess of it.
Though Jos Buttler flicked and nailed the drive for two fours, Jaiswal enthralled the crowd with a pulled six making a cracking sound off the bat and launched another six over long-on off Marco Jansen and Bhuvneshwar respectively.
The young left-handed batter had luck on his side — edges landing short of fine leg and missing the stumps. Jaiswal got a top-edge going for four off Jansen and hammered a drive through backward point for another boundary, before guiding a short ball straight to short third man.
Samson began with a late cut off T. Natarajan and cut off Mayank Markande for two fours, before smacking the latter for back-to-back sixes down the ground and extra cover. Buttler ended the 21-run over by pulling over mid-wicket for a flat six, before muscling a six and four down the ground off Abhishek Sharma.
Buttler then placed a drive through long-off against debutant Vivrant Sharma, followed by flicking off Jansen to collect a brace of fours to reach his fifty in 32 balls. Buttler and Samson took a six each off Markande before the former brought out the drive and late-cut against Jansen for back-to-back fours.
Markande came for further attack when Buttler muscled a six down the ground while Samson danced down the pitch to smash another maximum. Buttler’s onslaught continued when he carted Bhuvneshwar thrice through off-side for boundaries, followed by Samson getting his fifty in 33 balls.
But in a bid to flick off Bhuvneshwar after shuffling across in the 19th over, Buttler was trapped plumb lbw with a low yorker on review, falling five runs short of his century.
Samson brought up Rajasthan’s 200 with a ramp off a Natarajan yorker going over the keeper for four. He ended the innings with a gigantic thump over long-on for six and cutting past third man for four, as 17 runs came off the final over.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 214/2 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 95, Sanju Samson 66 not out; Marco Jansen 1-44) against Sunrisers Hyderabad
(IANS)
