Jos Buttler turned out to be the hero for Rajasthan Royals, as the Englishman’s unbeaten knock of 70 runs helped his team beat Chennai Super Kings by 7 wickets to keep their hopes of qualifying into playoffs alive with 4th win of the ongoing IPL 2020 season in Abu Dhabi on Monday (October 19).
RR made a great start to spoil MS Dhoni 200th IPL match, as the bowlers’ superb effort restricted the three-time champions to a modest 125/5 with in-form stars Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson failing to even stay on the crease for more than 10 deliveries.
Chasing the modest total, Ben Stokes gave a fine start to RR before Deepak Chahar and Josh Hazlewood created a little bit of panic by picking three wickets inside the powerplay overs. However, Steve (25 off 33) Smith and Buttler then took charge of the team as they stitched a 98-run stand for the 4th wicket to power RR to a 7-wicket win over CSK inside 17 over in the 37th IPL 2020 game on Monday.
Buttler was adjudged Player of the Match as well as Game Changer of the Game for his match-winning knock against CSK in Abu Dhabi and the Englishman was delighted to able to finish the game for his team after being demoted to the batting order at No.5 in the ongoing IPL 13.
Jos told host broadcaster Star Sports at the post-match presentation: “Nice to get a win on the board tonight. I tried to come out with some intensity in my batting. I didn’t think I had enough last game, and I decided to take a few more options tonight, and it came off.”
He concluded, “You have to keep trusting yourself and particularly when there’s no scoreboard pressure, you can play yourself in and let cut loose in the end. I’m happy (batting at number 5) to do whatever the team needs to me do. This is my role for now.”
Noteworthy, Rajasthan Royals will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next IPL 2020 game on 22nd October at the Dubai International Stadium, UAE.
(With ANI Inputs)
