"Shane Warne was the first Royal, this one is the reigning Royal" - Sanjay Manjrekar pays huge compliment to RR opener Jos Buttler

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar paid a massive compliment to the Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) prolific opener Jos Buttler after his dazzling hundred in the IPL 2022 Qualifier 2 lifted his side into the tournament’s final. Comparing the impact of RR’s first captain Shane Warne and Buttler on the franchise, he commented that if the former was the first Royal, the latter is the reigning Royal.

Buttler smashed an unbeaten 106 off 60 balls against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. Chasing 158 to book a place in the IPL 2022 final, RR got home by seven wickets in 18.1 overs.

Reflecting on Rajasthan’s comprehensive win during a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar hailed Buttler and said:

“Shane Warne was the first Royal, this one is the reigning Royal. Hats off to Buttler. My reading watching that entire innings was that because he felt he was one of the key players, he was actually playing a slightly responsible innings. He played to the merits of the ball and still got 106 off 60 balls. I just spotted one shot against Josh Hazlewood, where he played that T20 kind of stroke. All the others were him waiting for the balls to be loose, that is by his standards.”

Rajasthan got off to a terrific start in the chase as the openers raced to 61 in five overs. Hazlewood sent down only one of those overs. According to Daniel Vettori, RCB missed a trick by not giving a second over to the Aussie immediately after the first. The former Kiwi skipper explained:

“I thought after Hazlewood bowled the second over, he would come back in for the fourth as well. Leaving Hazlewood to the backend (of the powerplay) seemed strange. A bowler of his skill, height, his normal lengths would have been effective, as it proved to be. He was their best bowler.”

Hazlewood returned for the last over of the powerplay and immediately dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal (21). He ended with figures of 2 for 23 from his four overs.

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“RR put in a perfect bowling performance” - Sanjay Manjrekar

Although Buttler walked away with the Player of the Match award for his fantastic century, Manjrekar reckons that it was the bowlers who set up the victory for RR. Praising the team’s bowling performance, he said:

“RR put in a perfect bowling performance. Prasidh Krishna’s three overs, including the one right at the start (to get rid) of Virat, were crucial. Kohli’s loss was a massive blow to the opposition. Trent Boult was superb. (Ravichandran) Ashwin bowled with some control and Obed McCoy of course. The bowlers deserve a lot of credit as they set up the win.”

Krishna claimed 3 for 22, while McCoy finished with figures of 3 for 23. Boult (1/28) and Ashwin (1/31) were economical. Yuzvendra Chahal (0/45) was the only Rajasthan bowler to go wicketless in the match.