New Delhi, 23 (FN Agency) In a controversial finish to a high-scoring encounter in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, Jos Buttler’s third century paved the way for yet another Rajasthan Royals victory as they pipped Delhi Capitals by 15 runs on Friday (April 22). The fifth win of the season allowed the Sanju Samson-led side to move to the top spot in the IPL 2022 points table.
A splendid wicket-maiden penultimate over bowled by Prasidh Krishna, had left Delhi Capitals needing 36 runs off the last over, with only three wickets in hand. It seemed, the game was almost shut. However, three successive sixes by Rovman Powell not only kept them in the game, but the third of those was hit of a waist-high full-toss. The on-field umpires didn’t find it necessary to consult with the third umpire and deemed the delivery legitimate, leading the Delhi Capitals dugout to be infuriated and assistant coach Praveen Amre to step on to the field to have a word with umpire Nitin Menon. The drama brought an abrupt halt to the contest, broke the flow of play and Powell could only score two runs in the next three deliveries. Not really. It was slightly different than the quintessential Buttler ton. To begin with, neither Buttler nor his opening partner Devdutt Padikkal seem too interested in going after the bowlers in the first half of the powerplay – scoring only 12 runs in three overs. With Khaleel Ahmed and Shardul Thakur getting the new ball to swing, the openers were content with negating the early threat. In fact, the two boundaries picked by Buttler in the opening over was streaky.
For as long as the duo was in the middle and the opening partnership flourished, Delhi’s woes increased. Buttler at his best was unstoppable against anything that Delhi’s varied bowling attack had to offer. The ‘keeper-bat smashed nine sixes and as many fours in his 65-ball 116. While Buttler was doing the majority of the striking, Padikkal too picked up pace. He was dismissed after scoring a breezy 35-ball 54. Sanju Samson. The Rajasthan Royals skipper didn’t get much time to settle in but played a useful cameo – 19-ball 46* to help Royals surge to 222 for 2. He was especially severe towards Khaleel in the 18th over when the left-armer was hammered for 21 runs before taking the attack to Shardul Thakur in the last over. Much unlike Royals, the Capitals’ went on the attack early. Prithvi Shaw started off the chase with a couple of boundaries and his opening partner David Warner caught up quickly. The duo scored 43 runs in 4.2 overs before Warner was dismissed caught behind by Prasidh Krishna.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 222/2 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 116, Devdutt Padikkal 54; Mustafizur Rahman 1-43) beat Delhi Capitals 207/8 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 44, prithvi Shaw 37; Prasidh Krishna 3-22, R Ashwin 2-32) by 15 runs.