Rajasthan Royals are in the final of the IPL 2022 after Jos Buttler’s remarkable century
AHMEDABAD: A certain Shane Warne would be happy from the heavens when he saw Jos Buttler take the Rajasthan Royals to the IPL final for the first time in 14 years with his latest spectacular, a devastating 60-ball, unbeaten 106 laced with 10 fours and six sixes.
Buttler is paying the ideal tribute to the leg-spin icon who led the Royals to their only championship in 2008. Buttler, who has already scored 800 runs in the IPL, helped the Royals chase down 158 runs in a canter in the second qualifier at the imposing Narendra Modi Stadium when they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets.
He has now earned the Royals a match with the Gujarat Titans in the final game on Sunday night at the same stadium, giving them a chance to pay back their loss to the hosts in the first qualifier.
Apart from Virat Kohli, who accomplished it in 2016, Buttler is now the only batsman to score four hundred in a single IPL season. On a night when Kohli dazzled, the 31-year-old was caught behind by the immensely impressive Prasidh Krishna for just seven runs.
He’d lost his golden touch for a while, but Buttler found it just in time. His 56-ball 89 in the first qualifier was in vain, but it was more than enough in this encounter.
While Buttler’s innings determined the match, it was Prasidh Krishna (3-22 in four overs) and Obed McCoy (3-23)’s incisive spells that helped the Royals win.
Both pacers bowled well, collecting six wickets between them to help the Royals restrict RCB to 157 for eight, taking advantage of the generous bounce on an Australian kind of surface.
Rajat Patidar continued his match-winning, hurricane innings of 112 not out against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, top-scoring with a stunning 58 (42b, 4×4, 3×6) as he reacted quickly to the demands of a wicket where strokeplay appeared to be difficult.
RCB finished at least 20 runs less of a safe target, with another excellent effort by Patidar, another poor performance by Kohli, and a catastrophic collapse in the final five overs, which has seen them gather just 34 runs while losing five wickets.
