Twitter Reactions: Jos Buttler's ton and excellent death bowling help RR secure their second win of IPL 2022

Rajasthan Royals have registered their second win of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season with a win by 23 runs over five-time champions Mumbai Indians. They posted 193 runs after being put in to bat first and then denied MI’s power-hitters sensationally in the death overs to seal the game. MI eventually fell 23 runs short to lose their second game of the season.

Rather MI came that far in the chase was due to the two youngsters Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma. The duo got together with the team’s score reading 40/2 after four overs. They took the attack to the opposition soon after getting their eyes in. Tilak especially was brilliant, playing some shots effortlessly and once again impressing everyone with his classy batting.

He was fearless taking on the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Ashwin in the middle overs. Kishan also did well to get to his second consecutive half-century. Just when it felt like the two youngsters will take MI closer to victory, Navdeep Saini took an excellent catch in the deep to send back Kishan in the 13th over, bowled by Boult.

Even after the fall of this wicket, Tilak Varma kept playing his shots and also brought up his maiden IPL fifty. But once he got out in the 15th over off Ashwin, MI lost their way in the chase. Tim David and Daniel Sams didn’t trouble the scorers much and the onus fell only on Kieron Pollard.

The Caribbean giant tried to take his team home but the Royals executed their plans superbly to keep him quiet. Prasidh Krishna was excellent in bowling at full-throttle pace and despite the target being in Pollard’s reach in the last two overs, the latter couldn’t hit the boundaries. MI needed 39 runs off the last two overs but they could only reach 170, and eventually lost the game by 23 runs.

Jos Buttler’s century powers RR to 193

Earlier, it was all about Jos Buttler after the Rajasthan Royals were invited to bat first. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal got out early trying to up the ante from the word go. But that didn’t have any effect on Buttler’s style of batting. The Englishman began his assault in the fourth over of the innings and didn’t stop until he got out. Basil Thampi was the bowler who came under fire as Buttler smashed him for 26 runs in an over.

The carnage continued even from the other end with RR skipper Sanju Samson also smacking boundaries. He and Buttler added 82 runs in just over eight overs. After the former got out, Shimron Hetmyer also smacked the MI bowlers to relieve a little bit of pressure from Buttler who was smashing runs at will at the other end. He didn’t spare any bowler apart from Jasprit Bumrah who was absolute class with the ball.

Interestingly, MI got the measure of Buttler as he got close to the three-figure mark bowling wide yorkers at him. However, they missed their lines to Hetmyer who raced away to 35 off just 14 deliveries. After his assault, Buttler got to his ton as well off the 66th ball of his innings. After his ton, MI staged a brief comeback courtesy of Jasprit Bumrah castling the centurion with an excellent yorker and also getting better of Hetmyer in the same over.

Even then, Rajasthan Royals got to 193 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their 20 overs even as Bumrah returned with the figures of 3/17 in his four overs. In the end, the score proved to be enough for the Royals as they registered their second consecutive win of the season.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: