Twitter Reactions: Jos Buttler's whirlwind 124 crush Sunrisers Hyderabad to sixth defeat

Not even three changes in the eleven and change in leadership could change the fortunes of the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who slid to their sixth defeat of the season. After being beaten black and blue by Jos Buttler, they surrendered with the bat against Chris Morris and Mustafizur Rahman, who returned with figures of 6/49 from their eight overs combined.

Winning the toss, the newly appointed skipper, Kane Williamson inserted Rajasthan Royals to bat, informing about the known “harsh call” of having dropped David Warner from the eleven. SRH opted for two more changes as they brought in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Nabi in place of Siddharth Kaul and J Suchith, while Abdul Samad came in for Warner.

On the back of Jos Buttler’s whirlwind century, who was well-supported with skipper Sanju Samson, Rajasthan Royals managed to tick many of the unticked boxes in the season, racking up massive 220/3. 

Buttler, Samson take charge

The experiment of introducing Rashid Khan in the powerplay paid dividends to Kane Williamson as he removed Yashasvi Jaiswal cheaply, pinning him lbw after being hit for a couple of fours. After his fall, Samson did show intent early on in his innings, attacking Khaleel Ahmed, although RR finished with a fairly ordinary powerplay tally of 42.

Where, perhaps, the Sunrisers made one of the costliest mistakes in the history of the league was not reviewing the Buttler’s lbw shout off Rashid in the fourth over, only for the replays to return three reds. He was not in double-digits at the time. Breaking the shackles, the duo picked a couple of sixes to send Vijay Shankar for 18 in his opening over. And from thereon, the Royals never dropped below the third gear. 

Buttler’s bash 

The Royals were 77/1 at the halfway mark with both Buttler and Samson well-set and finding the middle of the bat. The mood for Buttler changed in a jiffy as if a monster entered inside, and the only chance to halt the partnership that came Manish Pandey’s way was dropped by him to reprieve Samson.

Buttler was 42 off 37 but he started to toy with the bowlers with such ease that every onlooker would have thought batting as easy as counting numbers on fingers. Meanwhile, his opposition soon lost count of how many did he smoke out of the park. His most destructive phase came off Mohammad Nabi, whom he demolished and picked 21 in the 15th over to run into the 80s. 

Rajasthan was guilty of bowling him outside the off-stump, giving him ample room to wield his wand and he obliged each time. Moreover, Rashid bowled by the 11th over left them with nowhere to go. Buttler nudged a single off Shankar in the 17th over to notch up his maiden century off merely 56; reaching from 50 to 100 in merely 17 balls. 

While Samson holed out to Abdul Samad at long-off, who took a sensational catch in the same over Buttler got his century, Buttler went well-past a century smacking 6, 4, 6 (on no ball), 6 (free hit) to race to 124 off just 64, including 11 fours and eight maximums. He inside-edged Sandeep in what looked slightly a tired shot but his carnage took his team to a score that would prove well outside the opponents’ reach.

New-look opening stand shows promise

After a sedate first three overs, the scoreboard pressure led Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey to open arms. Bairstow went against Chetan Sakariya, smacking him for a six and consecutive fours only an over before Pandey smoked two maximums off Kartik Tyagi.

57/0 at the end of the powerplay, SRH looked in control of things but Mustafizur Rahman had other plans. His slower one knocked over Pandey (31 off 20) while Rahul Tewatia removed Bairstow (30 off 21), as Anuj Rawat, the debutant caught him at long-on. The Royals tightened the noose around the batters and with Vijay Shankar skying Morris to long-on after a run-a-ball 8, they had left too much to do in too little time.

With only one way left: smack everything that comes the way, SRH kept losing one wicket after another and any hopes ended with Kane Williamson depositing Kartik Tyagi in the deep. Unable to find any momentum whatsoever, the skipper could muster only 20 off 21. 

SRH’s slide goes on

With a fragile middle-order that has been under the scanner ever since the start of the tournament, little could have been expected. Mohammad Nabi whacked a couple of lusty blows, although only to be sent back by Rahman for a 5-ball 17. Young Abdul Samad perished to Morris in the same over the lanky pacer cleaned up Kedar Jadhav. The two-run over with as many wickets was the death blow as SRH restricted them massively short by 55 runs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: