Jos Buttler Injury: Here’s Why R Ashwin Opened the Batting in RR vs PBKS IPL 2023 Match in Guwahati

During the eighth Indian Premier League 2023 match between Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings in Guwahati, RR opening batter Jos Buttler didn’t come out to open the batting in a surprising move.

Needing a chase a 198-run target in the inaugural IPL match at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, their second home ground for the season, Royals put on display what appeared to be a shocker because of Yashasvi Jaiswal‘s opening partner.

While the likes of Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal more than capable to open the batting, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin getting a promotion right at the top of the batting order was an outright left-field ploy irrespective of the reason.

Ashwin, who was promoted as a nightwatchman to No. 3 during the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 Test match in Nagpur earlier this year, had hoped for India batter Cheteshwar Pujara to allow him to bat at his designated batting position more often. While the same didn’t happen again in that series, Ashwin getting to open in the biggest T20 league around the world is a shot in the arm of his batting aspirations.

Jos Buttler Injury

Readers must note that Buttler grabbed a couple of excellent diving catches in the first innings. While the first one powered his team to break a threatening 90-run opening stand between Prabhsimran Singh (60) and Shikhar Dhawan (86*), the second one had come in the last over to dismiss Shahrukh Khan (11).

Having said that, the second catch ended up hurting Buttler as he immediately walked off the ground to be attended by the team doctor. In what remains a minor injury, Buttler wasn’t sent as Jaiswal’s opening partner for this reason tonight.

Buttler, however, walked in to bat at No. 3 after Jaiswal (11) was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh in the second over. Buttler did hit a four and six each in his 11-ball 19 but was seen struggling because of pain in his finger.

Ravichandran Ashwin Record as an Opener

As far as Ashwin is concerned, it is noteworthy that the 36-year old player has opened the batting twice in T20s previously. It was in 2013 and 2019 when he had performed the role for Chennai Super Kings (vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata) and Tamil Nadu (vs Rajasthan in Surat) respectively.

That said, the move has never reaped the desired results for any of these teams as Ashwin has scored a total of 42 runs at an average of 14 and a strike rate of 84 as a T20 opener.

Rajasthan Royals Opener Batsman 2023

In addition to a tried and tested pair of Jaiswal and Buttler, Royals also have reserve top-order batters namely Joe Root, Dhruv Jurel and Kunal Singh Rahore in their ranks.