As the new season of the Indian Premier League begins, Buttler will be looking to put behind his form issues at the recent World Cup and replicate his last edition’s performances for the Gujarat Titans.
The highly experienced England keeper-batter has a superb record in T20 cricket, both internationally and in the IPL, but couldn’t find form in the tournament that mattered, putting extra pressure on the rest of the England line-up.
At the ICC T20 event played in India and Sri Lanka, in Feb-March, Buttler lost his rhythm to endure a lean run in the global event, managing just 87 runs in eight innings at an average of 10.87 and a strike rate of 116.
Analysing the chink that has crept into your game and rectifying it is a painful process that all successful players have to go through. Amidst the talk whether his game is affected by age (he still is 35), the onus is on Buttler to show he has cricket left in him. The IPL, where GT begin their campaign next Tuesday, will be an opportunity for him to prove a point.
Asked about the process he follows to rectify his game, Buttler said: “There’s probably a small circle of people you turn to ask for their advice or their opinion on what they’re seeing. Ultimately, I tried hard. I put a lot of effort into that World Cup and, for a multitude of reasons probably, it just didn’t quite work out.”
From his vast experience, Buttler says the road back begins with accepting that dealing with the low points are part of a professional cricketer’s career. “Actually having the capacity and discipline to just say that’s okay, you know what, I tried hard. It’s a game where there are elements that I can’t control and everyone else is trying to do well as well. So it just didn’t quite work out. Being a 35-year-old player, I’ve had 15 years of times where I’ve had good form, bad form, tournaments that went really well, and tournaments that didn’t go to plan. You’re always trying to reflect and self-analyse, but pinpointing one thing is difficult. If there was that one secret, then I think we’d all know it and we’d all score runs every time. But I don’t think that exists.”
From the time he made his IPL debut in 2016, Buttler has earned his place among the the best players in the world’s premier T20 league with 4120 runs at an average of 40 at a strike rate of 149.38. Last season, he had an impressive run with GT, scoring 538 runs, average of 59.78, at a strike rate of 163.03. He is banking on the break after the World Cup where England lost in the semi-final to India, to clear his mind and return refreshed.
“I’ve had a bit of space from the game, which I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve reflected, and whether I’ve scored runs or not, the challenge is the same, go to practice with energy and optimism, prepare well, and then go into the game, start or not, and take it from there.”
As for the technical side of his game, he said: “I’ve just gone back to basics here in the first few days of training, trying to really look after my setup, make sure I’m in a good position when the ball gets released, and then just trust from there that it will happen. So moving forward, (it’s about) actually trusting myself. I’ve played a lot of cricket. As much as you want to ask someone for advice, listening to my own advice will be pretty helpful as well.”
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