A masterful Jos Buttler blazed to his third century of IPL 2022 and raised 155 runs for the opening wicket with Devdutt Padikkal (54) as Rajasthan Royals thrashed Delhi Capitals by 15 runs and reclaimed the top position on Friday night. This was Royals' fifth win in 7 matches while DC faced fourth loss in 7 matches.
Batting first, Royals posted a massive 222/2 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Delhi Capitals, already ravaged by a Covid-19 outbreak in their squad, reached Wankhede Stadium instead of MCA Stadium in Pune without head coach Ricky Ponting, who went into isolation after a family member tested positive this morning.
On the field, they ran into Buttler, who was in imperious form as he built his innings with caution before hitting a plethora of shots in scoring 116 off 65 deliveries. This was his third century of this edition of IPL and fourth overall. Virat Kohli had scored four tons in a single edition of IPL in 2016 and now Buttler needs one more century to equal that record. Buttler struck his first hundred of IPL 2022 against Mumbai Indians at DY Patil, his second was against Kolkata Knight Riders at Brabourne.
Buttler smashed his 100 off 57 deliveries, hitting eight fours and eight sixes as he and Padikkal raised 155 runs for the opening wicket -- their highest partnership for any wicket, surpassing the unbeaten 152-run stand for the third wicket between Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson against Mumbai Indians at Abu Dhabi in 2020. This was the first 150-run stand for the opening wicket in IPL 2022.
Padikkal played second fiddle but showed his range of shots, hitting Mustafizur Rahman for three successive fours early in his innings as Rajasthan Royals made full use of the opportunity to bat first and set up a big target for Delhi Capitals.
Skipper Sanju Samson displayed a brilliant cameo of unbeaten 46 off 19 deliveries, capitalising on a dropped catch when he was on 28.
Delhi Capitals also started well as openers put on 43 runs in just 27 balls. In-form David Warner was first to go after scoring 28 runs from 14 balls. Sarfaraz Khan was the next to go in the next open. The scored was 99 in 10 overs when Prithvi Shaw (37 runs off 27 ball) went back. Captain Rishav Pant played an attacking innings, but was caught in vital stage of the game. He made 44 runs from 24 balls. They could manage 207 in allotted overs losing 8 wickets.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 222/2 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 54, Jos Buttler 116, Sanju Samson 46 not out; Mustafizur Rahman 1/43) beat Delhi Capitals 207/8 in 20 overs (Rishav Pant 44, Prithvi Shaw 37, Lalit Yadav 37, David Warner 28, R Ashwin 2/32, Prasidh Krishna 3/22).
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