JAIPUR, APRIL 7
Jos Buttler's 100 trumped Virat Kohli's 113 as Rajasthan Royals overhauled Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
Kohli anchored Bengaluru to 183-3 with a record-extending eighth IPL century that equaled his highest score. His unbeaten 113 off 72 balls including 12 boundaries and four sixes came at a venue where the Indian batting maestro had struggled in Twenty20s and never scored a half- century.
But Buttler outdid him with his own unbeaten 100 off 58 balls. Buttler and captain Sanju Samson (69) combined in a 148-run second wicket stand to help Rajasthan reach 189-4 in 19.1 overs.
Rajasthan earned its fourth straight win by a clinical six wickets. Bengaluru lost for the fourth time in five games.
Buttler was elated to raise his century in his 100th IPL game in the final over by pulling Cameroon Green to midwicket for his fourth six of the innings that also featured nine boundaries.
Buttler scored 11, 11 and 13 in his previous IPL games and finally hit batting form after struggling teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for a second-ball duck by Reece Topley, 2-27.
Bengaluru's depleted spin attack struggled to collar Buttler and Samson, who shared the highest partnership of the season.
Earlier, Kohli and Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis (44) put on a 125-run opening stand in 14 overs.
But Ravichandran Ashwin (0-28) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2-34) kept the runs in check in the middle overs.
Kohli got a life on 67 when Nandre Burger couldn't hold a sharp chance at backward point. But Kohli raised one of the slowest hundreds in the IPL off 67 balls. Chahal broke the century partnership when Du Plessis was caught at long-on, and squeezed the runs in the death overs.
