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Jos Buttler The Finisher? England Star Shines After Gill, Sudharsan's Brilliance
Follow UsButtler came to bat only in the 13th over, but provided substantial impact to GT’s innings with his quick-fire 41 off 23 deliveries
Jos Buttler’s current avatar as a batter in the shortest format is known to provide maximum impact from the top of the batting order. That’s what he did so well for Rajasthan Royals when he played for them, scoring 2731 runs at a strike rate of 149.2 while averaging 44.05.
However, ever since he joined the Gujarat Titans, he has been made to bat at number three because Sai Sudharsan and skipper Shubman Gill have been opening the innings for the Titans. The Indian opening pair has had a stellar record in the competition so far, and they are the pair to have the most 50+ run stands since the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
As a result, Buttler has few opportunities to come early in the innings and control it for as long as possible—something he has been doing for most of his career in T20 cricket at both the franchise and international levels.
However, on April 21 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, he could only come in to bat in the 13th over of the game, and still played an innings of 41 off just 23 deliveries which helped GT reach 198/3 in 20 overs.
What stood out the most about Buttler’s innings was that he understood the game's situation perfectly. He saw that the opening pair had added 114 runs in 12.2 overs and GT needed some extra impetus to hang a big total on the board. The English swashbuckling batter scored 21 off his first 10 deliveries against KKR, his third fastest start in the IPL since 2022. The majority of those runs came against Andre Russell, against whom Buttler smashed a hat-trick of fours.
Buttler added value to the innings not only through his smart play but also through his brilliant skills. He didn’t miss any opportunity to score against the full delivery and scored 13 off five deliveries on full and yorker lengths.
In fact, Buttler has now hit 59 runs off just 27 deliveries against full deliveries bowled to him by the pacers in IPL 2024. If you’ll look at his pitch map in the IPL so far, you’ll be also able to see that he hasn’t left even the wide yorkers bowled to him and has smashed them for boundaries, just like he did against Mitch Starc in the last game, and against Vaibhav Arora’s wily bowling today.
Buttler also loves Eden Gardens, as his last three scores here read 41* off 23, 68 off 44, and 107* off 60. On the day, his Midas touch on the ground continued despite a late entry point as he showcased why he’s one of the most dangerous batters in the world in T20 cricket.