AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Jos Buttler scored 97 not out off 54 balls as Gujarat Titans beat Delhi Capitals by seven wickets and moved atop the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
Buttler never had a crack at the century in the last over, when 10 runs were needed, because teammate Rahul Tewatia smashed a six and a four off the first two balls.
Elsewhere, pacer Avesh Khan bowled a tremendous final over for Lucknow Super Giants to stun hosts Rajasthan Royals by a slender two runs in Jaipur.
Khan defended nine needed off six balls, conceding only six even as the drama was wound up by teammates dropping a catch and fumbling away a second run.
Rajasthan squandered a winning position from 156-2 after 17 overs and finished on 178-5 in reply to Lucknow's 180-5, powered by Aiden Markram and Ayush Badoni fifties.
Buttler misses ton but Gujarat wins
Buttler missed out on a record-equalling eighth hundred as he hit 11 fours and four sixes to complete Gujarat's chase with four balls to spare.
Sherfane Rutherford, 43 off 34, combined with Buttler for 119 off 69 for the third wicket — the stand underpinning Gujarat's 204-3 in 19.2 overs.
This was after Delhi Capitals made 203-8 led by skipper Axar Patel's 39 off 32.
Gujarat replaced Delhi on top of the table on run-rate.
Chasing a tall score, Gujarat lost skipper Shubman Gill, run out for 7. But that brought in Buttler, and he shared 60 off 35 with Sai Sudharsan for the second wicket.
Sudharsan scored 36 off 21 to the eighth over and Gujarat was at a comfortable 74-2.
Buttler reached 50 off 32 and picked up the scoring pace in Rutherford’s company. After they achieved Gujarat's highest third-wicket partnership, the game took a sudden twist at the finish.
Rutherford was out caught in the penultimate over off Mukesh Kumar, leaving 10 needed off the last six deliveries. But Buttler was stranded on 97 when two big blows by Tewatia off Mitchell Starc finished the match.
Earlier, Delhi struggled, espcially against pacer Prasidh Krishna, who picked up 4-41 in four overs.
The big moment came when Krishna trapped Lokesh Rahul for 28 off 14 in the fifth over.
The best stand was between Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs of 53 off 36. Ashutosh Sharma’s cameo — 37 off 19 with three sixes — pushed Delhi across 200.
Rajasthan loses from a position of strength
Opting to bat, Lucknow lost the in-form Mitchell Marsh (4) and tournament top-scorer Nicholas Pooran (11) early. Skipper Rishabh Pant fell for 3 and Lucknow slipped to 54-3 in 7.4 overs.
Markram, though, held one end, and rebuilt the innings with Badoni.
South African batter Markram scored 50 off 31, hitting three sixes and five fours, in his fourth half-century of the season. Badoni powered to 50 off 34, including five fours and a six.
Both perished in the space of 11 deliveries to leave Lucknow at 143-5, but Abdul Samad stepped in and smacked four sixes off the last four deliveries to finish the innings on a high.
Rajasthan began its chase by debuting 14-year-old opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the youngest IPL cricketer. He didn’t show any nerves, smacking his first ball for a six.
Filling in for the injured Sanju Samson, Suryavanshi scored 34 off 20 balls before he was stumped while fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal fired his fourth half-century, 74 off 52.
Jaiswal and Suryavanshi shared 85 off 52, then Jaiswal and stand-in skipper Riyan Parag added another 62 off 43 to have Rajasthan cruising.
Then Jaiswal and Parag fell to yorkers by Khan in the 18th over.
Khan bowled the final over as well, and took another wicket in a dramatic save.
“Don't know what we did wrong,” Parag said. “The last over was unfortunate.”
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The Associated Press
