Rajasthan Royals wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler, who was man of the match in his team’s 7-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Monday, said that he tried to bat with intensity at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Buttler with his unbeaten knock of 70 runs off 48 balls was the star for Steve Smith’s team, despite coming to bat at fifth. The skipper himself remained not out at 26 after his bowlers had bundled CSK out for a paltry total of 125/5.

“Nice to get a win on the board tonight. I tried to come out with some intensity in my batting. I didn’t think I had enough last game, and I decided to take a few more options tonight, and it came off,” the England wicket-keeper said after making the top score of the match here.

Rajasthan Royals kept their hopes alive of making it into the knockout stages of the current season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the comprehensive 7-wicket win over CSK on Monday.

Before the match, Rajasthan were lying at the bottom of the eight-team points table. However, after they won with 2.3 overs to spare in Abu Dhabi, the Royals have climbed to the fifth spot with eight points from 10 matches.

Skipper Smith seemed a satisfied man after the result. He heaped praises on Jos Buttler and others and also spoke about his new role of batting down the order.

“You have to keep trusting yourself and particularly when there’s no scoreboard pressure, you can play yourself in and let cut loose in the end. I’m happy (batting at No.5) to do whatever the team needs to me do. This is my role for now,” said the 30-year-old player.

“Sharjah is a little different from here. The wicket was stopping, not the best for batting, and good to be on the winning side. I thought we bowled well in the powerplay. The spinners bowled good lengths, with the googlies and leggies, building a lot of pressure,” he said.

The Aussie also praised leg-spinners Rahul Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal.

“Tewatia and Shreyas have been sensational for us. Buttler took the pressure off me. I just knocked it around, and he just batted the way he usually does. He always maintains a good strike-rate. I didn’t know I’d nicked the ball [on to the pads for LBW decision], but I was relieved to see that I had,” he said.