Watch cricket video highlights between Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Indian Premier League 2024 nineteenth match, played at Jaipur.
In IPL 2024, Jos Buttler returned to form, leading Rajasthan Royals to their fourth straight victory in four games as he celebrated his 100th IPL encounter with a 58-ball century. With a six over midwicket to end unbeaten at 100, Buttler marked his milestone with flair. His 148-run partnership with Sanju Samson (69 in 42) for the second wicket set the stage for the chase.
They broke the mark established earlier in the day by Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, making their partnership the strongest of the season. Leading from the front, Kohli smashed 113 in the opening innings, his third century in the past seven IPL innings and ninth overall. However, it was also his slowest century, reaching the landmark in 67 deliveries.
With du Plessis being the only hitter who was active, it was to Kohli to save the Royal Challengers Bengaluru innings. They lost their fourth game in a row despite their 183 runs scored, despite his skillfully carrying the bat to the very end.
Buttler needed to turn things around going into the game after receiving scores of 11, 11, and 13. especially after witnessing Yashasvi Jaiswal fall for Reece Topley like a duck. Then in the fourth over, Buttler produced his first boundary of the evening with a signature scoop over wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
After saving that one, Buttler made it through a difficult catching opportunity on delivery number six. But now that did slow him down. In a sixth over that saw 20 runs, he threw himself at left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar, hitting him for three fours and a six. In the tenth over, Buttler reached his first fifty of the season, with Samson matching him shot for shot.
Against the inexperienced spinners Dagar and Himanshu Sharma, Buttler was particularly formidable. He would pounce on short balls by tugging over the leg side, and they would frequently mistake with their lengths. In order to strike both spin and pace down the ground, he also broke the boundaries through the covers and sprinted down the pitch.
As the innings went on, his connections grew better. This was evident in the 13th over when he picked off Dayal’s slower ball, had to wait a long time for it to get to him, and still flat-batted him for six. At the beginning of the twentieth over, Buttler had one more over to win, and he completed a fantastic evening by hitting a six to achieve his ton and secure the victory.
When RCB was put to bat, they needed some runs from their opening pair, but the opposition was averaging three powerplay wickets per game, so it was supposed to be a battle. Nevertheless, Trent Boult and Nandre Burger were unable to make the early breakthrough, and the du Plessis-Kkohli combination scored 53 runs during the powerplay.
For the first time this season, du Plessis survived the powerplay, and Kohli looked composed at his poorest IPL venue—he had previously averaged 21.90 in Jaipur—so the start seemed good for RCB. During their initial 125-run stand, Kohli was the main contributor with 72 against du Plessis’s 44 before the latter was removed in the 14th over.
The finest bowler for the Royals, Yuzvendra Chahal, was blasted for two sixes by Kohli as he peppered boundaries off him on the leg side, particularly by flicking off his toes past midwicket. In the sixteenth over, he hit Avesh Khan for three fours through the off side, saving his finest for last. After hitting two fours in the 19th over to take Burger for his ninth T20 century and eighth IPL century, Kohli went on to smash two more fours in the 20th over to end with a career-high IPL total of 113. In a total of 183 for 3, he was one of two hitters in the innings to reach double digits and provided 61.70% of the runs for the Royals.
The Royals’ bowling display was atypical. It was the first game in which Boult did not bowl a third over during the powerplay since they failed to take a wicket during the powerplay.
At that moment, Samson turned to face Ashwin and then Chahal in turn. In eight overs, they combined to score 62 runs, at 7.75 economy. A well-prepared Kohli and others like du Plessis, Cameron Green, and Glenn Maxwell were kept quiet by their variety of techniques.
Conversely, consider the two rookie spinners for RCB, Dagar and Himanshu. Shahbaz Ahmed was acquired by Sunrisers in exchange for Dagar, and Himanshu is an RCB scout. They let up one more wicket in just four overs (two each) than Ashwin and Chahal combined for in eight overs.
Too often they failed to hit their distances, and when they did make a mistake, Samson and Buttler did not hold back. Eleven of their twenty-four balls were hit for four or six, which was a decisive factor in the Royals’ victory with five balls remaining.
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