Buttler’s maiden T20 ton leads RR to 55-run win over SRH

Chasing a mammoth target of 221, Rahman and Morris led the way as RR restricted SRH to 165 for eight wickets in 20 overs

New Delhi: Jos Buttler’s maiden T20 ton coupled with three-wicket hauls from Mustafizur Rahman and Chris Morris helped Rajasthan Royals (RR) cruise to a 55-run win over SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing a mammoth target of 221, Rahman and Morris led the way as RR restricted SRH to 165 for eight wickets in 20 overs.

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With David Warner replaced by Kane Williamson as SRH captain and dropped from the team, Manish Pandey (31) walked out with Jonny Bairstow (30) to open the innings. The pair put up 57 runs in the powerplay before Pandey fell to Rahman off the first ball of the seventh over.

Bairstow then fell to Rahul Tewatia in the next over after which Vijay Shankar (8) fell to Morris in the 11th over, following which Williamson (20) became Kartik Tyagi’s maiden IPL wicket. Mohammad Nabi then gave SRH some respite by smashing 17 runs in five balls but succumbed to Rahman in the 15th over. SRH then fell well behind the required run rate after that point as they struggled to score runs.

Earlier, Jos Buttler scored his maiden T20 century to help Rajasthan Royals (RR) score 220 for three wickets. RR got to the mammoth score, largely due to Buttler’s 124 off 64 balls and his second-wicket partnership with captain Sanju Samson. The pair put on 150 runs off 88 balls with Samson scoring 48 off 33.

Brief scores: RR 220/3 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 124, Sanju Samson 48; Rashid Khan 1/24) vs SRH 165/8 in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 31, Jonny Bairstow 30; Mustafizur Rahman 3/20, Chris Morris 3/29)