IPL 2025: Buttler serves up a classy knock to take GT home

Mumbai: The reason why Jos Buttler is sought after in the Indian Premier League (IPL) was for there for everyone to see when Gujarat Titans (GT) took on high-flyers Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Pitted against the early leaders, who also have one of one of the best bowling units in the tournament, Buttler dished out an unbeaten, high-quality innings of 97 off 54 balls ((11 fours & 4 sixes) masterfully anchoring the chase of 204.

He was set for a century but with GT needing 10 off the last over, Rahul Tewatia finished the game with four balls to spare hitting a six and a four off Mitchell Starc.

The seven-wicket victory took GT to 10 points and to the top of the standings overtaking DC on better run-rate.

The home team’s hopes of chasing down the stiff target largely depended on their top order with Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharshan and Buttler having got the bulk of their runs. But their innings started on the wrong foot when opener Gill went for a non-existent single and was run out in the second over.

Buttler, though, came in and played like one deserving of the price tag of ₹15.75 crore that GT paid for him at last year’s auction. With Sudarshan, he set the platform with a solid start of 67/1 in six overs. More importantly, the threat of Starc with the new ball had been neutralised with the Australian’s figures reading 2-0-19-0 in the power play. After he lost Sudarshan (36 off 21balls) with the total of 74, Buttler launched a calculated assault in the company of Sherfane Rutherford with whom he added 119 runs for the third wicket.

The talismanic batter brought the house down when he hit five fours in a row in the 15th over bowled by Starc. Rutherford (43 off 34 balls) chose to play second fiddle for most of their partnership before coming alive in the 13th over and savagely hooking Mohit Sharma for back-to-back sixes.

In the end, DC found themselves around 15-20 runs short. On a belter of a pitch, where the bounce was true and the ball coming nicely on to the bat, they were 73/2 in six overs, their best this term in the power play. The ball was flying off the bats of KL Rahul (28 in 14 balls) and Karun Nair (31 in 18 balls). But credit to the GT bowlers, who braved the energy-sapping afternoon heat, for breaking the momentum.

Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the bowlers with a four-wicket haul including the big ones of Rahul, Axar Patel and Karun Nair. Ishant Sharma, who was hit hardest by the heat and was on his haunches after two overs, delivered three tidy overs (3-0-19-1). Mohammed Siraj came back for a good second spell. The top six in DC’s batting order got starts but captain Axar Patel’s 39 was their highest score.

Brilliant with the new ball this season, Siraj started poorly conceding 16 and 17 runs in the first and the third overs of the match. Amidst the mayhem, Krishna conceded only seven in the fifth over. GT’s tall bowler from Bengaluru went on to win the battle with both his Karnataka seniors, getting rid Rahul in his first over with a superb yorker and then returning in the ninth over to have Nair caught at third.

Yet, Capitals continued to make good progress. At 150 in 15 overs, they had the platform to get to a big total. If they could not it was because Gill’s decision to bowl Ishant in the 19th over and R Sai Kishore the final worked. Ashutosh Sharma, who played a good hand of 37 off 19 balls, was there till the second-last ball, but he was not allowed to break free in the end either. Ishant gave away just six runs for one wicket and spinner Sai Kishore went for nine runs in the 20th.