Jos Buttler. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL)
All the top three batters Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, and skipper Sanju Samson smashed their respective half-centuries as Rajasthan Royals posted a massive total of 203/5 on the board, eventually sealing the encounter by 72 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match no.4 of the Indian Premier League 2023 edition. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up his second-best IPL figures of 4/17 as the orange army got restricted to just 131/8 in Hyderabad.
Speaking about how the game panned out, stand-in captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the toss and elected to field first. Jaiswal and Buttler racked up 54 runs each while Samson scored 55 as RR took the charge completely. Shimron Hetmyer’s cameo of 22* off 16 took his side to a total of above 200 at the end of the 20th over.
Chasing 204, the home side got off to the worst possible start as they lost both Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi against the swing bowling of Trent Boult. Mayank Agarwal made 27 off 23 while SRH’s most expensive player of this season Harry Brook couldn’t contribute as he struggled with his knock of 13 off 21. Impact player Abdul Samad made a run-a-ball 32 but it wasn’t enough as SRH failed miserably in their run-chase. For his 20-ball half-century, Buttler grabbed the Player of the Match award.
Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Match no.4 between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League 2023:
20 – Jos Buttler has now struck the most 50-plus scores for RR in the IPL. He surpassed Ajinkya Rahane’s tally of 19 such scores.
170 – Yuzvendra Chahal is now joint-second with Lasith Malinga for most wickets (170) in IPL’s history. Dwayne Bravo is on top for picking up 183 wickets.
85/1 – RR registered their highest score of 85/1 in the first six overs in the history of IPL. They bettered their total of 81/1 against Chennai Super Kings in Abu Dhabi in 2021.
170 – Chahal has now picked up the most wickets (168) by a spinner in the cash-rich league. He surpassed Amit Mishra’s tally of 167 scalps.
17 – Trent Boult has now picked up the second-most wickets (17) in the first over of the league. He went past Praveen Kumar’s tally of 15 wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is in the first position for snaring 20 scalps.
112 – Buttler has now also smashed the second-most maximums (112) for RR in the IPL. He went past Shane Watson, who is in the third spot with 109 sixes. Skipper Sanju Samson tops the chart with 135 big hits.
3 – Buttler is now joint-second with Chris Gayle for most 50-plus scores (3) by a batter in the powerplay in IPL. David Warner tops the list with six such scores.
4/17 – Chahal scripted his second-best figures of 4/17 in the cash-rich league. His spell of 5/40 against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai in 2022 tops the chart.
303 – Chahal also reached the landmark of 300 wickets in all T20s.
16.53 – Riyan Parag has managed to score 529 runs in 38 IPL inns at an average of just 16.53 with two half-centuries.
6 – RR recorded the sixth-highest score (85/1) by a team after the first six overs in the league.
6 – Sanju Samson is now joint-top with Rahul Dravid and Steven Smith for the most 50-plus scores (6) by RR captain in the league.