Jos Buttler has had an eventful few months. At the international level, he saw England go through yet another underwhelming ICC tournament, crashing out early in the Champions Trophy. Before that, he had to deal with questions around the team’s approach to bilateral cricket, his team being accused of taking things too lightly in India. All these developments marked the end of his captaincy stint for England. “I’ve just reached the end of the road,:” he had said, when stepping down from the role. “My overriding emotions are sadness and disappointment, but I’m sure in time that will pass and I’ll get back to really enjoying my cricket.”
Early signs are that he is finding that joy at Gujarat Titans. “I’m trying to play with a lot of freedom, a lot of intent,” Buttler said on Wednesday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after his match-winning innings. “I have had a few months of pretty unenjoyable cricket, so trying to make sure I’m out there giving my best, and obviously a new team, new franchise, and excited to be here.” In an interview at the start of the season, he said walking down the steps at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was helping him find the excitement again. “You get that buzz, that’s why you still play the game, the desire’s still burning strong.”
For one of the best modern-day batters in white-ball cricket, the number of times he had to face up to tough questions – especially from the English media – was weighing him down. Soft-spoken with the microphone in hand, he rarely lost his nerve, but the defeats kept racking up. The ODI World Cup in India, the T20 World Cup (two tournaments where they entered as defending champions but barely played like it) and the Champions Trophy were three events that made it pretty evident his time as a leader was over. In his parting post-match interview in Karachi, he hoped to take a leaf out of Joe Root’s playbook in finding his feet as a specialist batter after relinquishing captaincy.
Classic Buttler
The 39-ball unbeaten 73 against RCB was a classic Buttler knock. He took his time, didn’t look in perfect rhythm at the start, but finished off with a flurry of boundaries, picking up length early. It was, however, in his own admission, a knock borne out of embarrassment. In the first over of the match, the usually uber-aggressive Phil Salt – Buttler’s England teammate – danced down the wicket to a short ball from Mohammed Siraj, and tried to muscle it over the offside, square of the wicket. The ball took the outside edge and flew harmlessly towards the ‘keeper. But Buttler seemingly had butter on his gloves. The ball slid through, and hit his chest. Buttler later joked that the only explanation he can think of was that it was similar to the Herschelle Gibbs dropped catch. “I was pretty embarrassed, especially with Salty, you know, he’s a dangerous player. I barely got a glove on it, it hit me in the chest, but due to that embarrassment, I was pretty determined to try and score some runs,” he said.
Buttler also spoke to the broadcasters about the clarity of his role given by coach Ashish Nehra. Unlike some other teams in this IPL, Titans are not blessed with enviable depth in the batting lineup. With an established opening duo in Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan, they can bank on a solid foundation at the top, which makes an in-form Buttler an invaluable asset at No 3. Whether walking in early or after Gill and Sai have seen through the early threat, he can take down pace and spin equally effectively.
