Buttler has shot at history as Royals eye fitting Warne tribute

"I can't remember anyone batting this well in the history of the IPL."

Kumar Sangakkara was speaking about Jos Buttler after the Rajasthan Royals opener took his tally of runs for the season to 824 with a record-equalling fourth ton in a single campaign.

Buttler's 106 from 60 deliveries against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Friday's play-off means he has matched RCB linchpin Virat Kohli's four centuries in a season, set back in 2016.

The Englishman has the chance to take the record outright when Royals face Gujarat Titans in Sunday's final, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm on Sunday.

Kohli's record of 973 runs in a solitary IPL campaign looks safe due to Buttler's mid-season blip, during which time he said he "felt a bit of pressure" and had to have "honest conversations" with his side's coaching staff, including director of cricket Sangakkara.

The 31-year-old mustered a top score of 30 across five innings prior to hitting 89 in Royals' first play-off game against Gujarat and then that ton in their second against RCB.

Buttler needs an unlikely 150 runs in Ahmedabad on Sunday to leapfrog Kohl's tally but you would not back against him getting a fair portion of that number.

Sangakkara added of his red-hot batter: "It's hard to describe what he has done for us this season. It's just his overall game.

"He's got some pretty potent strengths, and once he recognises that and trusts those strengths, he manoeuvres the rest of the bowling to go more and more into his strengths.

"He's great against spin, he has got all the shots, and he chooses on certain days which shots to play and which shots to put away for a while.

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