New Delhi, April 17 Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody has heaped praise on Rajasthan Royals' (RR) batter Jos Buttler, calling him an "elite athlete" for standing till the last ball to hit the winning runs. He also opined that Buttler's knock has to go as one of the "great IPL 100s".
In Tuesday's match when KKR posted a huge 224-run target, riding on Sunil Narin's century (109 off 56), RR seemed hopeful of chasing the target. However, wickets at regular intervals ensured they were 128/6 in 14 overs, with the boundaries drying up.
Buttler, who was on 42 off 33 balls with Rovman Powell at the other end, then took matters into his own hands and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. He scores his seventh hundred in the IPL, one of his most memorable ones, to remain unbeaten on 107 off 60 balls.
This was the second time this season that Butler sealed a win off the last ball of the innings, with 1 run needed off the final ball.
"Yeah, Kolkata does present that opportunity, we all know that chasing there is the better place to be, trying to defend in the back half of the innings is always difficult. And, when you've got a player like Jos Buttler set at the crease, even though in the middle of the innings we were a little bit perplexed to what was going on with the batting order with Ashwin jumping up ahead, he stayed calm, he stayed very much in the present and managed to see his team home in a thriller," said Moody on Star Sports Cricket Live.
When RR needed 9 off the final over, tiring Buttler went for a six to complete his century. Then Varun Chakaravarthy bowled three consecutive dot balls. With three to get off two balls, Buttler hit to long-off and took a double. The winning runs were achieved off the last ball as RR equalled the highest successful run chase in the history of the IPL.
"Well, he kept going because he's an elite athlete and it just shows in today's world of T20 cricket or any form of cricket, you need to be an elite athlete, you can't just get away with just being a skilful player and that time has well and truly passed. He's an elite athlete, that's why he's still standing for that very last ball to hit the winning runs, simple as that, he's coming back from an illness.
"He's managed to bounce back pretty quickly because he is strong and physically strong but he's also feeling mentally strong as well given his history in the game but there's no hiding, in those conditions it's extremely, extremely tough and if you don't have the hard yards as an athlete and done the hard work, you can't put in performances like that, there's no way you give it away at 60 or 70 because you're exhausted," added Moody.
Speaking about Buttler's knock in the chase being one of the best IPL hundreds, Moody said, "Yeah, if he’s saying yes, I'm saying yes because he is the boss isn't he? But it has to go up there as one of the great IPL 100s.
"We've seen a lot over the years and that's a great pleasure of being involved in this tournament but when you're in a hole like Rajasthan, got themselves into a hole, to stay calm and collected in quite taxing conditions physically, it's remarkable that you see the finishing line like he saw it with clarity and that was the most important thing because the rest of the teams were off their way and it wasn't for him staying clear to the park and Rovman Powell having that injection, they were gone," he concluded.
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