Opener’s 5th straight fifty (94*) all but shuts door on Mumbai Indians; visitors win by 7 wickets
You'd expect Jos Buttler, who famously took off his towel to celebrate Mumbai Indians' (MI) title victory last season back home, to still have some affection for his former franchise.
Far from it, he took an affection to his ex-colleagues in the MI bowling unit, notching up his fifth straight half-century this season to give Rajasthan Royals (RR) a seven-wicket win over the hosts at the Wankhede here on Sunday.
And while he dropped the towel last year, Buttler's unbeaten 94 off just 53 balls has all but dropped MI's hopes of making it to the play-offs this season.
Chasing the hosts' under-par 168/6, Buttler found an able ally in under-fire skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who played the perfect supporting role to his star striker.
Their show started quite early, with comeback-man D'Arcy Short playing a knock that lived up to his surname once again this season.
Rahane walked out on his home turf, and it was evident he was feeling at home from ball one, carving a textbook drive through covers for four.
With an asking rate of just above eight an over, Rahane didn't have to do anything silly, especially with Buttler being Buttler at the other end.
Sharma brought Krunal Pandya on early, with left-arm spin being the Englishman's apparent weakness. Bring it on, said Buttler, lofting Krunal for four over covers and sweeping a six past deep square leg in his second over.
Not even leggie Mayank Markande and pacer Hardik Pandya were spared by Buttler who brought up his fifty with a crisp drive off the latter. Rahane, meanwhile, let his running do the talking at the other end as RR notched up 100 in the 13th over.
Their 95-run second-wicket stand off 74 balls ended in the next over, Hardik getting Rahane holed out at long off.
But in a spectacular display of counter-attacking cricket, Buttler hit two sixes and two fours off the next seven balls he faced to bring the equation down to 37 in the five overs.
That's when Sanju Samson took over, his 14-ball 26 taking RR closer to the finish line and Buttler, fittingly, crossing it with a six to remain unbeaten in the 90s for the second straight time.
As clinically as they finished the game, RR started the match poorly, having more themselves to blame than the opposition batsmen for MI's 87-run opening stand.
Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis were dropped on nine and five, respectively. Yet, despite the reprieves, the duo didn't quite hit its straps on a docile wicket, especially Yadav who was struggling for timing.
The real impetus came only in the ninth over, when Lewis swept and smacked leggie Shreyas Gopal for consecutive sixes as the hosts got to 86 off 10 overs.
But just as MI were switching to fifth gear, they hit a Jofra Archer roadblock.
The Sussex lad removed Yadav and Rohit back-to-back with fiery, well-directed short balls that were pulled to Jaydev Unadkat's safe hands at fine leg. Lewis brought up his half-century with a maximum off Dhawal Kulkarni but hit a wide one straight to deep point the following ball.
Kishan and Krunal slogged their way out, and at 132/5 in 17 overs, MI were down in the dumps.
But Hardik's late 36-run cameo lifted them to respectability, a burst that was ended by a flying Samson's one-handed catch at deep midwicket.
DID YOU KNOW?
Jos Buttler became only the fourth player to score five fifies in successive T20 innings after Virender Sehwag (in 2012), Hamilton Masakadza (2012) and Kamran Akmal (2017). Buttler is the second to the feat after Sehwag in IPL
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