“Buttler had been sick for two days…”: RR assistant coach Bond after win over RCB

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India]: Following his side’s six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Rajasthan Royals’ assistant coach Shane Bond lauded batter Jos Buttler for his century in his 100th game, also revealing that he was sick since last two days.

Virat Kohli’s blitzkrieg century went in vain as Jos Buttler’s thunderous hundred lit up the Sawai Mansingh Stadium to power Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Saturday.

On Buttler’s ton, Bond said during the post-match press conference, “It is great to see Buttler back in form. We were winning games without much contribution from the openers, but they were striking the ball well in the nets. We all knew it was a matter of time before they scored,” said Bond.

“Buttler had been sick for the last two days and coming straight from the bed and scoring a century is an incredible effort,” added the assistant coach.

On the performances of pacers Trent Boult and Nandre Burger, who were taken to cleaners by Virat, Bond said, “It was not the best start for us. But we are lucky to have really nice five bowlers. We restricted them to 180-something and felt we were in the game.”

“(Ravichandran) Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal did not give away too much runs. The wicket was nice. It had something for bowlers if you changed the pace at the right areas or used the right bounce,” added the coach.

Bond lauded Virat for his eighth IPL century, saying that the batter is a “great technician.

“I really enjoy watching Virat going about his work, but it is frustrating when you are at the receiving end. Jos scores in various areas of the park, and has a lot of power. These are two different players and fantastic to watch,” added Bond.

Bond said that RR has a very strong team and bats deep and has five genuine bowlers in Chahal, Ashwin, Boult, Burger and Avesh Khan.

“We talked about playing a lot better at home this time. We are three wins in three here and it gives us a lot of confidence,” concluded Bond.

Coming to the match, RR put RCB to field first. Despite an opening partnership of 125 runs between skipper Faf Du Plessis (44 in 33 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Virat Kohli (113* in 72 balls, with 12 fours and four sixes), RCB failed to put up a fine total on the board, settling for 183/3 in their 20 overs.

Yuzvendra Chahal (2/34) was the pick of the bowlers for RR. Nandre Burger also took a wicket.

In the run-chase, RR did lose Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck. But skipper Sanju Samson (69 in 42 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) joined forces with Jos Buttler (100* in 58 balls, with nine fours and four sixes), who roared back into form with a century in his 100th IPL match. Despite some quick wickets later, RR chased down the total with five balls and six wickets in hand.

Reece Topley (2/27) was the pick of the bowlers for RCB. Yash Dayal and Mohammed Siraj took a wicket each but it was not enough.

Buttler took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award.

RR is at the top spot, having won four of their four games, which gives them eight points. RCB is at eighth spot with a win in their five matches, giving them only two points.