On Saturday, Rajasthan Royals defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 wickets in Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium, Jaipur as England batter and wicket-keeper Jos Buttler returned to a great form in style after he scored his first century in the Indian Premiere League 2024.
Jos Buttler also overtook Virat Kohli who also scored a brilliant century of 113 not out in the first innings of the match as Rajasthan Royals chased down the target of 184 with ease.
RCB’s Weak Batting Performace Against Rajasthan Royals
RCB got to a perfect start by both skipper Faf du Plessis and Indian run-machine Virat Kohli who put on a partnership of 125 runs without losing any wickets but they failed to perform to their full potential and go for big scores.
When the South African player and RCB skipper Faf Du Plessis got out to the Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for 44 out of 33 balls, it was seen that the opening duo only remained at the crease for 14 overs and scored at an average under 9 per over.
After the skipper got out, the Australian power-hitter Glen Maxwell came to the crease but he scored only 1 run out of 3 balls after he got bowled out by the South African left-arm fast bowler Nandre Burger. Then came the Indian debutant Saurav Chauhan but he only scored 9 runs out of 6 balls and got out to Yuzvendra Chahal.
WATCH – @imVkohli starts off the proceedings with a SIX, @faf1307 finishes it off with a four 🙌🙌
Watch the match LIVE on @JioCinema and @StarSportsIndia 💻📱
Live – https://t.co/lAXHxeY4un #TATAIPL #IPL2024 #RRvRCB pic.twitter.com/iTHFKjJniB
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 6, 2024
On the other hand it is all a one man show, as Virat Kohli scored his 8th IPl century and remained not out by 113 runs out of 67 balls. However, it was the slowest century in the entire IPl history as Kohli matched Indian batsman Manish Pandey who also scored 100 out of 67 balls. However, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 183 for 3 wickets in their 20 overs.
It is not the first time Virat Kohli scored a century in Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium as many Indian crickets fans must remember the famous chase in 2013 where Virat Kohli scored 100 out of 52 balls in against the six-time cricket World Cup winners Australia.
Rajasthan Royals dominated the second innings
In the second innings, Rajasthan Royals did not get off to a great start as one of their openers Yashavi Jaiswal scored a duck in the second ball. After Jaiswal’s dismissal, Rajasthan Royal’s wicket-keeper and skipper Sanju Samson came into the crease and put up a great partnership with the England international and took the innings towards the next step.
Both of them gave a great partnership of 148 runs until Sanju Samson got out of 69 runs out of 42 balls by Mohammed Siraj. After the skipper’s dismissal both Riyan Parag(4 runs out of 4 balls) and Dhruv Jurel( 2 out of 3 balls) and did not contribute anything to the scoreboard.
But it was the England international Jos Buttler who responded to the critics in style after he smashed a century in just 58 balls with nine fours and five sixes and helped Rajasthan Royals achieve their win their target of 184 in just 19.1 overs.
Riyan Parag after the match gave a statement on his approach to batting’ Nothing has changed, just that I have simplified things. Before I would think about things too much, this year the goal is simple, watch the ball, hit the ball.”
Bowling Performance of Rajasthan Royals and RCB
RCB’s bowling performance has not improved yet, keeping the Indian seamer Vyshak Kumar on their bench was the biggest mistake as they lost out to Lucknow Super Giants by 28 runs.
Even the Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj is not in good form as he conceded 35 runs in his four overs and picked up only 1 wicket while the slow left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar was inconsistent and picked up 34 runs in his two overs. While the English pacer Reece Topley picked up 2 wickets by conceding 27 runs in his 4 overs.
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals’s bowling performance was fantastic as their spinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 2 wickets for 34 runs in his 4 overs with his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin who conceded only 28 runs in his 4 overs.
Man of The Match
The English international continued to fire from his end of the crease and led the Rajasthan Royals to their fourth win and take them back to the top of Indian Premier League 2024.
After his glamorous performance, he was awarded the Man of the Match award in which he stated that ‘Had a little bit of luck, did not time it well, just got over the rope, delighted with the win. However long you’ve played the game, you still have those anxieties and stresses. The mind is a powerful thing, just keep digging in, keep working hard and you need a little bit of luck along the way. At some point it will be okay and sometimes you have to tell yourself it will be okay.’
The Punch.ev Electric Striker of the Match between Rajasthan Royals & Royal Challengers Bengaluru goes to Jos Buttler.#TATAIPL | @Tataev | #PunchevElectricStriker | #BeyondEveryday | #RRvRCB pic.twitter.com/5l1eOykyo3
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 6, 2024
He further stated that his performance in SA20 gave him some confidence and he wants RR to keep the winning momentum and win the league.
The SA20 is a franchise twenty cricket league in South Africa which is organized by Cricket South Africa (CSA) and in which 6 teams participate. As of now, Sunrisers Eastern Cape are the defending champions.
