NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Jos Buttler was a much relieved man on Saturday after the Rajasthan Royals opener roared back into form with a scintillating hundred to fashion his team’s fourth consecutive victory in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
The England white-ball captain managed scores of 11, 11 and 13 in his first three matches even though 2008 champions Rajasthan kept winning.
Chasing 184 for victory against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Buttler proved why he is considered a T20 stalwart and smashed a 58-ball 100 sealing Rajasthan’s victory with five balls to spare.
Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 113 for Bengaluru, his record-extending eighth hundred in IPL, but still ended up on the losing side.
“However long you’ve played the game, you still have those anxieties and stresses,” player-of-the-match Buttler said of his slow start this season.
“Sometimes you just have to tell yourself it’ll be okay. Just keep digging in, working hard, at some point we will be okay.”
Buttler said Rajasthan must capitalise on their strong start to stay in contention for a playoff berth.
“We’ve started this season really well,” he said.
“We’ve been together for three seasons, everyone’s comfortable with each other, we just need to keep this momentum going.”
While it augurs well for England ahead of their T20 World Cup title defence in June, Rajasthan head coach Kumar Sangakkara said Buttler’s return to form was merely a matter of time.
“Jos is the best white-ball opener in the world, and all he needed to do was sit back and ignore some of the noise,” said the Sri Lankan.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
