Jos Buttler was an elated man as Rajasthan Royals (RR) opened their IPL 2022 campaign with a resounding 61-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Tuesday (March 29).
RR outplayed SRH in all three departments of the game. Asked to bat first, the Royals piled up a massive 210/6 in their 20 overs and then restricted the Sunrisers to 149/7.
"It's a fantastic start. We are delighted with our first win in the bouts with excellent team performance and great contributions. We want to play an expressive brand of cricket and play the situation in front of them," said Jos Buttler during the post-match press conference.
"We have got a great core of Indian players. A lot of experience is there in the spin department, especially with Ashwin and Chahal. The fast bowlers are great. Prasidh Krishna bowled fantastic today and Saini is also doing great, so some bright future is there," he added.
Buttler, who scored 35 off 28 balls while opening the innings, also praised Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, saying it was hard to face the SRH pacer.
Notably, Bhuvaneshwar returned with impressive figures of 1 for 29 in his four overs and got the prized scalp of RR skipper Sanju Samson.
"I found it hard work. He (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) is a fantastic swing bowler. I haven't batted for a while actually and then picked a finger injury but luckily had a good start over here. I have been working really hard in the nets and have been trying to find my rhythm," said the batter.
For Rajasthan Royals, captain Sanju Samson was the top scorer with 27-ball 55 while the likes of Devdutt Padikkal (41 off 29 balls), Jos Buttler (35 off 28 balls), and Shimron Hetmyer (32 off 13 balls) made notable contributions.
With the ball, wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (3-22) and pacers Prasidh Krishna (2-16), Trent Boult (2-23) starred for the Royals.
(With ANI inputs)
