Buttler butches Delhi's bowlers

Englishman's quickfire fifty puts Rajasthan on course for 151-run target chase

In a rain-affected match, Jos Buttler smashed an incredible 26-ball 67 runs as Rajasthan Royals stayed in the hunt for a massive 151-run target from just 12 overs.

After Delhi Daredevils innings was cut short at 17.1 overs when they were 196/6 due to rain, the visitors were given a revised target.

For Delhi, Rishab Pant's 69 off 29 balls and Shreyas Iyer's 35-ball 50 were the main performers. Earlier, young Prithvi Shaw gave them a perfect start with a 25-ball 47.

Chasing the revised target, Rajasthan were 100/3 in nine overs. D'arcy Short was 26 from 21 balls and Rahul Tripathi is the new batsman.

They need another 51 from 18 balls. Thanks to Buttler's blitz, Rajasthan are still on course to reach the target.

Chasing a revised target of 151 from 12 overs, Rajasthan openers began with a flurry of boundaries.

In the very first over, Jos Buttler struck a four and a six off Shabhaz Nadeem as that over accounted for 14 runs. 

The third over was an expensive one. The Englishman started with a huge six from Avesh Khan and in the next ball, cheekily moved towards the off-stump and smacked one over the keeper's head for another maximum. He managed another six and a four in that over to score 23 runs.

In the following over, Buttler survived a life after a mistimed pull-shot brushed against wicket-keeper Pant's gloves for a four from Liam Plunkett's bowling.

Rajasthan were flying, reaching 58 in just the four overs.

In the very first ball of Amit Mishra, he smacked a six from another cheekily, yet, perfectly improvised reverse-sweep. That brought him his fifty off just 18 balls.

But, the spinner managed to give just two more runs in the remaining five balls. However, Buttler made up for it next over from Avesh, hitting 13 runs.

Finally Mishra brought an end to Buttler's blitzkrieg after he was out done by a well executed googly. The Englishman came out of the crease, missed the ball and keeper Pant did the rest as he went for 67 off 26 balls (4 fours and 7 sixes) as Rajasthan lost their first wicket for 82 in 6.4 overs.

In the first ball of the ninth over, Colin Munro took a great catch at mid-wicket, dismissing Sanju Samson for three off five balls. Soon Ben Stokes was dismissed for 1 off 2 balls

Earlier, both the teams had to wait for an hour and a half to start the proceedings due to persistent rain.

The match was eventually started at 9:30pm and was reduced to 18 overs.

In the very first over, the hosts were dealt a huge blow after Coin Munro continued his dreadful run, edging one to wicket-keeper Jos Butler from Dhawal Kulkarni's bowling. Munro went for a golden duck as the hosts were 1/1.

But, the young Prithvi Shaw revived the innings.

He struck two sixes and a boundary in the third over bowled by Kulkarni. Then, he hit two fours and a six of Shreyas Gopal in the 5th over as the hosts ended the power play with 48/1. As a result of the reduced overs, on Wednesday, the power play lasted only for five overs. Normally, it will be for six overs.

Shreyas Iyer continued his form into this match and supported Shaw ably from the other end.

Notably, in the sixth over, he took the matters into his own hand, ending the over with two huge sixes off Gopal.

In Gopal's next over, Shaw started with a six, but the bowler had the final laugh. The youngster tried to drive the ball, but the extra bounce did the trick as Gopal managed to pull off a simple catch in his follow-up. Shaw went out for an impressive 47 off 25 balls (4 fours and 4 sixes) as Delhi were 74/2 in 6.2 overs.

New batsman Rishabh Pant instantly got into the act, hitting a maximum over long-on.

They both took the attack to the opposition and were striking the ball at will.

It was impressive to see how quickly Pant got into the groove and was smacking the ball. In 10 overs, Delhi were already 99/2 and were on their way to a big score.

The 12th and 13th overs were really productive for the hosts.

After a six from Iyer, Pant struck two fours as Daredevils managed 16 of that over.

The following over from Kulkarni was even more expensive with 20 runs coming of it. The 9-ball over had two fours and a six.

The left-hander reached to his fifty before his skipper, smashing one over the cover region for a four from Ben Stokes. With that boundary, he reached his fifty off just 23 balls. He then ended the over with a maximum in the deep covers.

In the next overs, Iyer got to his fifty, with a single.

Soon after he was gone. Iyer (50 off 35 balls) tried to lift one over the ropes, but ended up hitting it straight at Rahul Tripathi in long-off from Jaydev Unadkat's bowling.

Soon, Pant also followed his skipper. In the last ball of the same over, Stokes held a difficult effort right in front of the ropes as the in-form wicket-keeper batsman went for a deserved 69 from 29 balls (7 fours and 5 sixes) and the hosts were 172/4 in 15 overs.

Vijay Shankar did his job well to keep the run rate going before Tripathi took another catch in the long-off from Unadkat's bowling.

In the first ball of the 17th over, Glenn Maxwell was dismissed for a leg-before from Jofra Archer as the Australian continued his terrible form with just five from five balls.