Buttler smashed six sixes to go with nine boundaries as he notched a second IPL century of the season and seventh for his career – placing him second all-time, behind only Virat Kohli’s eight.

Despite Buttler’s heroics at one end, Rajasthan appeared to heading for just a second defeat in seven when slipping to 121-6 while chasing 224 to beat Kolkata Knight Riders, with Ravichandran Ashwin and Shimron Hetmyer gone to successive Varun Chakravarthy deliveries.

But, with 96 required from the final 36 deliveries, Buttler suddenly raced through the gears, bringing up a 36-ball half century when plundering four boundaries from Varun’s next over.

He and Rovman Powell (26 off 13 balls) added 17 more runs from the 16th, with the latter then smashing the first three balls of Sunil Narine’s next over for 16 before perishing two balls later.

Despite that blow, and an eighth wicket of Trent Boult falling in the 18th, Buttler continued his remarkable innings, bringing up his 55-ball hundred with a maximum to the first ball of the final over, with nine runs required.