England’s white-ball captain, Jos Buttler smashed a sensational century which helped his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Rajasthan Royals, defeat Kolkata Knight Riders by two wickets in the 31st match of IPL 17.
An IPL record chase of 224 was completed on the last ball when Buttler nudged the ball towards the legside and completed a single to win the match. Buttler single-handedly chased down the target as he smashed the bowlers all over the park to set up an impressive run-chase.
Rajasthan’s run-chase at Eden Gardens is now the joint-highest successful chase in IPL history. The franchise equalled the record they had set by chasing down 224 against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2020 in Sharjah.
The Rajasthan franchise scored 96 runs in the final six overs, which is a record in itself, and none of the teams previously chased down such quantity in IPL history. In the previous record-chasing match in 2020, the Royals needed 92 runs in the final six overs.
Buttler completed his 7th IPL century, the second-most by any batter, as he is only behind Virat Kohli’s eight. He has had stints with Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians during various seasons of IPL. Earlier in the match, Sunil Narine shook the world as he scored his first century in T20 cricket but his innings was not enough as Royals chased down the target.
The wicket-keeper batter scored his 8th T20 century, the most by any player from England in this format, surpassing T20 World Cup winner Luke Wright’s seven. A fun fact related to all eight centuries is, that they have all come in the previous three years.
Based on current standings, only three batters have more T20 centuries than Buttler – Gayle (22), Babar Azam (11) and Kohli (9).
