Buttler, Rutherford lead Gujarat to 7-wicket victory

Jos Buttler built a magnificent, unbeaten innings of 97 from 54 balls to lead the Gujarat Titans to a thrilling, seven-wicket victory against the Delhi Capitals in their IPL match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday afternoon.

Replying to an impressive DC total of 203-8 after being asked to bat first, the home side had Buttler and Impact Player Sherfane Rutherford to thank for their victory as the two overseas stars added 116 for the third wicket before the left-handed West Indian smashed a full toss to long to depart for 43 from 34 balls.

Former England captain, Buttler, straight drove legspinner Vipraj Nigam (4-0-34-0) for three straight sixes to about keep the Titans in touch with the chase although the asking rate had climbed to 12 per over shortly after the halfway stage.

Rutherford lightened the workload with slog-swept six against Kuldeep Yadav and two more in seamer Mohit Sharma’s first over which cost 18 runs but the course of the run-chase was changed emphatically in the 15th over when Buttler smashed Mitchell Starc (3.2-0-49-0) for five successive fours.

Nonetheless there was still work to be done with 10 runs required from the final over and Starc – who successfully defended just nine runs in DC’s previous match against the Rajasthan Royals to force a Super Over – with a chance to redeem himself.

But new batsman Rahul Tewatia (11* of three balls) heaved the first ball over midwicket for six and tickled the second to the fine leg boundary to clinch the victory with four balls to spare.

Earlier the Capitals were given a flying start by the top three batsmen reaching an impressive 73-2 in the Power Play before 30’s from numbers four, five and six pushed the total beyond 200 on an excellent batting surface.

Openers Abishek Porel (18 off nine balls) and Karun Nair (31 off 18) struck five fours and three sixes between them and were especially harsh on Mohammad Siraj whose first two overs cost 33 runs.

KL Rahul looked in prime form with 28 from 14 balls before being trapped lbw by seamer Prasidh Krishna (4-41) before captain Axar Patel top-scored with the most sedate contribution from the top six, 39 from 32 balls.

Tristan Stubbs, too, continued his recent fine form with two fours and a straight six in his 31 from 21 balls before top-edging a reverse-ramp against Siraj (1-47) to short third while Ashutosh Sharma smote 37 from just 19 balls.

Donovan Ferreira (1) made a rare appearance as the Impact Player arriving at the crease with 16 balls remaining but was unable to capitalise on his chance but the total, nonetheless, looked more than competitive at the half-way stage.

The result moved the Titans to top of the log with five wins and 10 points from their seven matches, ahead of the Capitals and the Punjab Kings on net run-rate although all three teams have identical records.

GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill (capt), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Rashid Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma

DELHI CAPITALS: Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar