IPL 2021: RR vs SRH Review – Buttler’s century sets up a huge win for Rajasthan

Rajasthan Royals roared towards victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2021 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. After scoring a mammoth score of 220 in their 20 overs, on the back of a century by Jos Buttler, Royals went on to defend the total. This was Sunrisers’ sixth defeat in seven matches while for Rajasthan, this was the third win.

Earlier in the day, Kane Williamson, Hyderabad’s newly appointed captain won the toss and elected to bowl first. They got an early wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal but Sanju Samson got together in a good second-wicket stand with Buttler. Their partnership of 150 runs came off just 82 balls and set up a perfect platform for their team.

Samson got to his third successive 40, falling short of his fifty by just two matches. Buttler went rogue in the last few overs, notching up his first T20 century. He ended with 124 runs from 64 balls, which allowed Rajasthan to get over 200. David Miller’s six off the last ball and Riyan Parag’s cameo of 15 runs meant their team finished on 220 for 3.

After dropping David Warner from the XI, Hyderabad opted for Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow, who started off well scoring 31 and 30 respectively. Williamson made 20, while there were some more contributions in the innings, but Hyderabad never looked in control of the chase. Chris Morris and Mustafizur Rahman picked up three wickets each while Rahul Tewatia and Kartik Tyagi got a scalp each. Their collective bowling effort, helped Royals restrict Sunrisers for just 165 for 8, winning this match by 55 runs.

Top performers:

Jos Buttler:

The Englishman after playing 282 matches in the shortest format got to his maiden T20 century and what a knock it was. He overcame a lot of mental constraints and a shortage of impactful performance to turn around and get a big score like this. He started slowly and timed his innings to perfection, setting up a match-winning total for his side.

Mustafizur Rahman:

While defending a total of 221, if your overseas bowler has picked up three wickets and given only 20 runs from his four overs, he has pretty much done his job perfectly. The wicket of Pandey was crucial while he also picked up wickets of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan as well.

Personal achievements/records:

Buttler’s 124 is the highest score by a Rajasthan Royals batsman in IPL

This is the first 50+ score for Jos Buttler in 9 innings against SRH in IPL.

The only active team against which Buttler played against and didn’t reach any fifty is now KKR.

Way ahead:

Rajasthan will now face Chennai on May 5 in Delhi while Hyderabad will now play Mumbai on May 4.