Jos Buttler braved cramps to rustle up a tempestuous, unbeaten 97, guiding Gujarat Titans to a wonderful seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals at Ahmedabad on Saturday.
After the impressive Prasidh Krishna-led (4/41) Gujarat pacers limited Delhi to 203/8, the home side paced their chase impeccably to reach 204/3 in 19.2 overs as Buttler played the protagonist during his 54-ball innings.
The Titans had, however, faced a few hiccups at the beginning, with the early dismissals of skipper Shubhman Gill and B. Sai Sudharsan (36), who helped Buttler add 60 runs for the second wicket. However, Buttler nonchalantly batted around them in the company of Rutherford (43) until the left-hander was dismissed in the penultimate over. The English-West Indian pair milked 119 runs for the third wicket that pushed GT closer to the shore.
Buttler's batting was aesthetically violent, as he managed to exploit a pitch on which the ball came fluently onto the bat. The Somerset man has all the shots in the book but plays them in the best of ways. Instead of moving around the crease like modern T20 batters, Buttler often relies on a strong core and quick hands to unfurl his shots.
A special knock in the chase ✅
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 19, 2025
🔝 of the table ✅#GT come up with a brilliant effort to seal the all-important 2️⃣ points
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There was a telltale example of his methods when he biffed Mitchell Starc for five boundaries in a row in the 15th over. Buttler did not move towards the ball, but reached out with his feet firmly rooted on the ground as the ball sped to the ropes between covers and point regions.
On the other hand, Rutherford's batting was all about brute power, as he showed while pulling pacer Mohit Sharma for two consecutive sixes.
The match did not end with a popular 'Buttler hundred', as Rahul Tewatia finished it off with a six and a four off Starc, with four balls to spare.
The win also helped the Titans move to the top of the table with 10 points—just like Delhi, but with a better net run rate of 0.98 against Delhi's 0.58.
Earlier, Gujarat's bowlers, led by Prasidh, produced a disciplined effort to stifle the Delhi batting unit. It started from the top-order. Abhishek Porel (23) started well, hammering pacer Mohammed Siraj for 16 runs in the first over. The barrage included two fours and a six, and he looked set for a bigger score. However, he perished in the next over to Arshad Khan, clubbing his over-pitched delivery straight to Siraj at the mid-on.
KL Rahul (28, 14b) and Karun Nair (31, 18b) added 35 runs for the second wicket and played some delectable shots. Rahul's six-over long-on (off Siraj) and Karun's pick-up flick for a six (off Arshad) were simply wonderful. Still, Prasidh trapped his Karnataka teammate Rahul with a searing yorker that pinged his back foot to break the promising alliance. Karun tried to ramp Prasidh, but Arshad took an easy catch at the wide third man, as DC slipped to 93 for three, despite consuming only nine overs.
The visitors then weaved another good stand of 53 runs through Tristan Stubbs (31) and Axar Patel (39) for the fifth wicket.
Stubbs' cover drives off Prasidh that raced to the fence testified his grace and power. Just as the South African—who was dropped on 30 by Rashid Khan off his own bowling—was gaining in confidence, he chose to play a reverse paddle off Siraj, only to be caught by Prasidh at the short third man. The Karnataka pacer returned to get rid of Axar as he continued to dig the ball into the pitch to get some bounce and grip, in order to keep the batters guessing. Ashutosh Sharma (37, 19b) also played some beefy shots as they crossed the 200-run mark.
