Jos Buttler smashes third century of IPL season in Rajasthan Royals win

Buttler, who made 103 against Kolkata Knight Riders in his previous appearance, was eventually dismissed for 116 off just 65 balls

Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals 222-2, Delhi Capitals 207-8 - Rajasthan Royals win by 15 runs

Scorecard

Jos Buttler smashed his third century of this season's Indian Premier League campaign as Rajasthan Royals won for a fifth time in seven matches, this time against Delhi Capitals.

Buttler, who made 103 against Kolkata Knight Riders in his previous appearance and also has scores of 35, 100, 70, 13 and 54 in this year's competition, was eventually dismissed for 116 off just 65 balls.

Mustafizur Rahman eventually claimed his wicket, but none of the Gujarat Titans bowlers escaped the England wicketkeeper's onslaught.

In all, it was Buttler's fourth IPL hundred; only Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli have hit more. Kohli struck four in 2016 alone – a remarkable record that hasn't been matched.

That year, he ended up with 973 runs for Royal Challengers Bangalore, the most in an IPL season. Buttler has 491 runs so far this time around, with the possibility of up to 10 games remaining should Rajasthan reach the playoffs.

Until last March, Buttler had never reached three figures in T20 cricket, before smashing 124 – his highest score in the format – against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. He followed that effort with his maiden T20I century during the T20 World Cup, making an unbeaten 101 at Sharjah against Sri Lanka.

^{Buttler made his maiden T20I hundred during the T20 World Cup (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

Devdutt Padikkal made 54 alongside him in a 155-run opening stand dominated by the Englishman, before Sanju Samson's 19-ball 46 helped to catapult Royals to 222 for 2 from their 20 overs.

In reply, Delhi had little choice but to start quickly, but they slowed after losing David Warner and Sarfaraz Khan in successive powerplay overs.

Rishabh Pant threatened with a quickfire 44, but he was one of two wickets for Prasidh Krishna, who had earlier dismissed Warner.

Lalit Yadav offered further resistance but regular wickets kept Capitals behind the required rate, ultimately falling 15 runs short despite a rapid 36 from Rovman Powell, who hit five sixes of his own.