England’s Jos Buttler hit a scintillating half-century to help the Rajasthan Royals hammer Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in their opening match of the Indian Premier League on Sunday.
Buttler’s 22-ball 54 led the team’s batting onslaught as they posted 203-5, and then their bowlers restricted hosts Hyderabad to 131-8 in the first match of the day.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal returned figures of 4-17 after pace spearhead Trent Boult struck twice in his first over.
Read | Chahal’s 4/17, Buttler blitz and other top moments from SRH vs RR
Buttler and his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal — who also made 54 — had provided an explosive start to last year’s runners-up and the inaugural IPL champions.
Skipper Sanju Samson also joined in the charge with his powerful 55 before he departed in the 19th over and Shimron Hetmyer finished off the innings with his unbeaten 22.
Buttler was the leading batsman in the last IPL season with 863 runs including four centuries, and he then led England to a T20 World Cup triumph in 2022.
He reached his fifty in 20 balls before being bowled by Afghanistan left-arm pace bowler Fazalhaq Farooqui inside the sixth over. Samson soon took charge then with Jaiswal for company as they piled on the runs.
In Pics | Rajasthan Royals defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs
Hyderabad were never in the chase after Boult bowled Abhishek Sharma for a duck and then Jason Holder clung on to a superb catch at slip to send back Rahul Tripathi.
Wickets kept tumbling, including Harry Brook (13) and Glenn Phillips (8). Getting in big-hitter Abdul Samad as an “impact player” only reduced the margin of loss as he hit an unbeaten 32.
The match also created quite the buzz on social media, especially on Twitter. We take a look at select reactions below:
What a partnership that was. Buttler has a fifty in the power play! That was some very skillful batting on a track that only a batter could have prepared
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 2, 2023
Jos Buttler makes six-hitting look like gobbling up an ice-cream. Good, old days.
Baseball plus cricket.
And Jaiswal has started out with a slew of shots.
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) April 2, 2023
Sanju Samson behind the stumps today: pic.twitter.com/ESTEdgRwXS
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 2, 2023
Rajasthan’s top order with Buttler, Jaiswal and Samson is destructive and arguably the most exciting to watch in the #IPL
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 2, 2023
Proper team effort to get off the mark in Hyderabad! 💗 #HallaBol pic.twitter.com/iwk2wZqfBQ
— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) April 2, 2023
With inputs from AFP
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