Jos Buttler (106no off 60) scores fourth ton of IPL season, matching Virat Kohli's record from 2016, as Rajasthan Royals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore to qualify for first IPL final since 2008 - watch title game live on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm on Sunday
Saturday 28 May 2022 07:19, UK
Jos Buttler fired a record-equalling fourth century in an IPL season to take Rajasthan Royals into their first final since they won the inaugural edition of the competition in 2008 under the late Shane Warne.
Buttler's 106 not off 60 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore - in which he struck the game-winning six - has seen him match Virat Kohli's record of four IPL tons in a single edition, set in 2016.
The 31-year-old's knock was his eighth score above fifty in 16 innings in this year's competition - and second in as many matches after his 56-ball 89 against Gujarat Titans in Tuesday's first play-off.
The Englishman will come up against Titans again in Sunday's title match in Ahmedabad with his knock helping Rajasthan chase down RCB's total of 157-8 with 11 balls to spare - Buttler creaming Harshal Patel into the stands to clinch a seven-wicket victory.
Buttler now has the third-highest number of runs by any batter in an IPL season, with his haul of 824 behind only Kohli's 973 for RCB and David Warner's 848 for Sunrisers Hyderabad, both of which came in 2016.
He reached fifty from 23 balls and three figures from 59 and amassed six sixes and 10 fours - but would have been dismissed on 66 had RCB wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik not spilled a pretty regulation outside edge.
Buttler has returned to form in style this week, having previously gone five innings without passing 30 after six fifty-plus scores earlier in the tournament, including centuries against Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians.
Rajasthan have laboured in the IPL over recent years, finishing bottom of the league table in 2020 and second bottom in 2019 and 2021.
But they are now one win away from a second IPL crown, 14 years after claiming their first when Warne, who passed away at the age of 52 earlier this year, was coach and captain.
RCB's wait for a maiden trophy goes on, with the 2009, 2011 and 2016 runners-up knocked out in the play-offs for the third year running.
Rajat Patidar impressed again for RCB with a 42-ball 58, two days after he struck a 49-ball century in the eliminator victory over Lucknow Super Giants.
Patidar's innings came to an end courtesy of a superb catch from Buttler - the Englishman releasing the ball before he lost his balance on the boundary and then pouching it again as he regained his footing.
Buttler's best was yet to come and he now has the opportunity to take the hundred record outright against Gujarat this weekend.
Watch the IPL Final between Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans live on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm on Sunday.
