Jos Buttler’s 97 not out led Gujarat Titans to an impressive seven-wicket victory against Delhi Capitals and took them to the top of the Indian Premier League table.
Former England captain Buttler came in during the second over and expertly marshalled a chase of 204 in sapping heat in Ahmedabad.
He was on 97 at the start of the final over but, with 10 runs needed off Australia quick Mitchell Starc, Rahul Tewatia immediately hit a six and a four to secure victory with four balls to spare.
That denied Buttler, who hit 11 fours and four sixes, an eighth IPL century but he still embraced his batting partner with a beaming smile.
Buttler gave up the white-ball captaincy when England were knocked out of the Champions Trophy in February but has responded with a good run of form in the IPL, with this his third fifty in seven innings.
He put on 60 with opener Sai Sudharsan, who became the tournament’s highest run-scorer by scoring 36.
The Titans were 74-2 when Sudharsan holed out at deep mid-wicket but Buttler soon hit five consecutive fours in one Starc over to swing the match in his side’s favour.
He put on 119 with West Indies international Sherfane Rutherford, who was caught at long-off for 43 at the end of the penultimate over.
Wicketkeeper Buttler also took a superb, diving catch in Delhi’s 203-8 to dismiss Vipraj Nigam.
Delhi, who were leading the standings until the defeat, reached their total thanks to contributions of 39 from Axar Patel, 37 from Ashutosh Sharma, plus 31 from both Tristan Stubbs and Karun Nair 31, but Gujarat did well to limit the damage.
Seamer Prasidh Krishna took 4-41, making him the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.
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