England white-ball captain Jos Buttler has started his Indian Premier League 2023 journey on a commanding note. In what is his eighth IPL season, he is representing Rajasthan Royals for the sixth consecutive year.
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With his last 10 T20s coming during the tour of Bangladesh and the inaugural season of SA20 earlier this year, Buttler joined Royals on the back of an assuring run of form of late.
The 32-year old player was part of a potentially match-winning 35-ball 85-run opening stand alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal (54) in IPL 2023 Match 4 on Sunday. The duo hitting boundaries all around the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium powered RR (85/1) to post the sixth-highest powerplay score in the history of the IPL.
Buttler, in particular, managed to complete a 66th T20 and 16th IPL half-century before getting out on the penultimate delivery of the powerplay. Having scored 3 (4), Buttler hit Sunrisers Hyderabad stand-in captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0/36) for a massive six over deep mid-wicket.
My team are off to a flier … @rajasthanroyals … The best T20 player in the world leading the way again @josbuttler … #IPL23
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 2, 2023
In the fourth over, Buttler welcomed SRH all-rounder Washington Sundar (0/32) into the attack by hitting the first two balls for sixes each. Hyderabad pacer T. Natarajan was treated even more strictly with the right-handed batter hitting as many as four fours in the fifth over.
Having hit three fours off Fazalhaq Farooqi in the last over of the powerplay, Buttler could’ve hit the fourth one against him as well had he not played on a delivery on to his stumps.
Jos Buttler Last 10 Innings in T20 (Updated on May 19, 2023)
In his last 10 T20 innings, Buttler has scored 188 runs at an average and strike rate of 18.80 and 116.04 respectively consisting of a solitary half-century and as many as five ducks.
S. No. | Runs | Balls | SR | Opposition | Ground |
1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | Punjab Kings | Dharamsala |
2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Jaipur |
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Kolkata |
4 | 95 | 59 | 161.01 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Jaipur |
5 | 8 | 6 | 133.33 | Gujarat Titans | Jaipur |
6 | 18 | 19 | 94.73 | Mumbai Indians | Mumbai (WS) |
7 | 27 | 21 | 128.57 | Chennai Super Kings | Jaipur |
8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Bengaluru |
9 | 40 | 41 | 97.56 | Lucknow Super Giants | Jaipur |
10 | 0 | 5 | 0 | Gujarat Titans | Ahmedabad |