Buttler Once and for all Should Concentrate on white ball

Jos Buttler enjoyed an outstanding Indian Premier League season in 2022, finishing as the highest run-scorer in the competition. Buttler almost guided Rajasthan Royals to their first IPL crown since 2008, only to lose out in the final at the hands of Gujarat Titans.

Buttler did everything in his power to attempt to drive his team over the line, scoring a brilliant century in Qualifier 2 to knock out Royal Challengers Bangalore. He outshone Virat Kohli and the rest of the leading batsmen in the competition to firmly entrench himself as arguably the best T20 player of the generation.

Buttler’s 863 runs have only been bettered by Kohli himself in a single campaign, when he notched 973 in 2016 for RCB. The only missing piece of the puzzle for Buttler was to win the crown, but the title eluded him and his teammates. They are backed in the online betting UK at odds of 6/1 to win the title in the 2023 season, and they will hope to have Buttler back and firing in time for the campaign.

The 31-year-old’s confidence appeared to take a massive hit after his dismal time in Australia for England’s Test side in the Ashes. Buttler struggled with the bat and was extremely poor with the gloves, dropping a number of routine chances that cost his team. However, he was able to bounce back in an outstanding fashion to prove that he is a premier white-ball player, the best that England have produced.

Buttler still harbors ambitions of playing red-ball cricket, but for a player who is so dominant against the white ball, he must surely focus his efforts on winning every crown he can without troubling himself in Test cricket. The World T20 was a prime example of his standing in the game in the white ball as he was named in the team of the tournament and scored 269 runs from six innings, including a brilliant century against Sri Lanka and the excellence of Wanindu Hasaranga. Even in difficult conditions for batsmen, Buttler shone as one of the best players in the tournament and he can certainly go from strength to strength when England competes in the World T20.

Jos Buttler had a slow start yesterday as he made his slowest 50 in T20Is but then he shifted gears soon enough and scored another fifty runs in just 22 balls to register the first 💯 of the T20 World Cup 2021 🙌#T20WorldCup #England #SriLanka #ENGvSL pic.twitter.com/Htr85aiplf

— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) November 2, 2021

Although the Three Lions reached the semi-finals of the competition, they still have unfinished business in the World T20. Buttler was part of the side that failed to get over the line against the West Indies in 2016 when Carlos Brathwaite blasted Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to break English hearts. It was a similar story in 2021 when England seemingly had the game in hand against New Zealand, only to lose out to Daryl Mitchell and James Neesham. 

England will be desperate to lift the trophy to capitalize on their generation of talent, in what could potentially be Eoin Morgan’s final tournament as captain. The question over who will replace him as skipper looks to be straightforward given the decision to hand Ben Stokes the Test match captaincy.

Buttler is the prime candidate and instead of focusing his efforts on attempting to restore his red-ball reputation, the 31-year-old could have the opportunity to continue to press England’s dominance in the white ball. No team in world cricket has been more successful in the white ball than the Three Lions since 2015, and the next man in charge faces a huge challenge to sustain the work of Morgan. 

Therefore, there is plenty for Buttler to accomplish with the white ball both in the IPL and his international commitments.