There was brief drama in the final over of Delhi Capitals run chase when Rovman Powell hit three consecutive sixes off Obed McCoy s first three balls, but Rajasthan Royals held their nerve to close out a 15 run win on Friday. Rajasthan s win was set up by Jos Buttler s century. In reply to Rajasthan s total of 222 2, Delhi Capitals finished on 207 8.Khaleel Ahmed caused Buttler a few problems in the very first over of the match as the Englishman struggled with away going deliveries. He was lucky not to edge one behind the wicket, but once he emerged unscathed from that opening over, there was total carnage.When Ahmed came on to bowl again in the last over of the powerplay, Buttler cleared his front leg to clatter his first ball for six towards the deep midwicket region. Buttler hit another six in that over to collect 15 runs. The left arm pacer could never recover from that onslaught as Delhi Capitals struggled to come up with a strategy to stop Buttler on a belter of a pitch at the Wankhede Stadium.By the time Buttler was done, he had scored 116 off 66 balls with the help of nine fours and nine sixes.
It was Buttler s third century of this season second on the trot and fourth overall in the IPL. His previous tons this year came against Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.It was also his fastest among the three tons as he took just 57 balls to reach the mark. He faced 59 balls to reach his century against KKR and 66 balls against MI. He now has scored 491 runs in seven matches this season at a strike rate of 161. The next best is KL Rahul with 265 runs from seven games.DC had a window of an opportunity in the 13th over when Buttler hit a half tracker from Lalit Yadav to deep midwicket, but Shardul Thakur misjudged the trajectory and trotted in instead of staying on the boundary. The ball sailed over him for a six and the chance was squandered. Buttler was on 60 off 43 balls at that point and went on to add another 56 off 23 balls thereafter.No one was shown mercy, not even the DC spin troika of Kuldeep Yadav 3 0 40 0 , Lalit Yadav 4 0 41 0 and Axar Patel 2 0 21 0 , each of them conceding more than 10 runs per over.While Buttler went on a rampage, it gave Devdutt Padikkal an opportunity to get his eye in.
Once set, he too launched into the DC bowlers. He scored 54 off 34 balls his first half century of this edition and along with Buttler shared a first wicket stand of 155 runs in just 91 balls.It was the highest partnership for the opening wicket this season and the second highest overall. Skipper Sanju Samson also chipped in with 46 off 19 balls to propel RR s total to 222 2 the highest total of this season. The previous highest total of 217 5 was also scored by RR in their last match against KKR.In response, Prithvi Shaw 37, 27b and Rishabh Pant 44, 24b stitched together a 51 run stand for the third wicket to give DC a glimmer of hope, but the pressure of the steep asking rate got to them as both perished one after the other.Jos Buttler on Friday continued his phenomenal form with the willow as he notched up his third century of the ongoing IPL edition. The Rajasthan Royals star seemed to be in a world of his own, reaching the three figure mark off just 57 deliveries against Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium.
The Englishman s sublime inning was laced with nine fours and as many sixes at the iconic venue in Mumbai.In an irrespirable batting display, Buttler hit 116 off 65 balls before perishing to a Mustafizur Rahman delivery in the penultimate over. Buttler started off slowly but steadily with his opening partner Devdutt Padikkal, who went on to score his first fifty of the season. The two put up 155 runs for the opening wicket to make the opposition attack look pedestrian. It was the highest opening stand for the Rajasthan outfit, eclipsing Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson s 144 run partnership against Chennai Super Kings.After Padikkal s 54 exit, Buttler teamed up with skipper Sanju Samson as the two steered the team past the 100 run mark. Samson chipped in with a 19 ball 46, powering the Royals to 222 2 in 20 overs.Buttler started off in a cautious manner, scoring his first 11 off 14 deliveries. He shifted gears as the game progressed to hit a 36 ball fifty. The floodgates opened after that as the right hander touched his hundred in the next 21 balls.Overall, Buttler now has four IPL hundreds to his name. Three have come in the ongoing IPL season while his maiden ton came last year against Sunrisers Hyderabad.Buttler inched closer to Virat Kohli s record of scoring four hundreds in a single IPL season.
The Indian batter was the top run scorer of the 2016 IPL edition, where he amassed 973 runs from 16 matches, which included four centuries and seven half centuries.Chris Gayle, Hashim Amla, Shane Watson and Shikhar Dhawan are the other four batters to have multiple IPL tons to their name. nbsp;All have got two centuries each with Dhawan being the latest one to achieve the milestone. nbsp;
