ENG vs AUS: England to go Rajasthan Royals' way in the only T20I

A lot has changed since Jos Buttler opened the innings for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. He dug the team out of troubles, was thunderous with his batting approach, played some delightful shots and splendid knocks the power RR to remarkable wins. He carried the same form for England in the ODI series against Australia and ended up with the Man of the Series award. Heading into the only T20I against the Aussies he is all set to open for the Brits.

He has to date played 61 T20Is for England and only opened once before this in 2016 vs Sri Lanka. Buttler had scored 73* from 49 balls in that game which is also his highest score in the format. Following his magnificent run in the IPL, the English selectors recalled him into the Test side and he scored a couple of half centuries.

He is in prime form and the team wants to make the best use of it. Batting in the middle order the wicketkeeper-batsman might not have an opportunity to face enough deliveries in a 20-over game, thus to make sure their best batsman gets that he will walk out to take charge against the Australians upfront.

Paul Farbrace, who is the stand-in head coach of the team in absence of Trevor Bayliss for this game as well as the 3 T20Is against India told the media at Edgbaston about the plan on the eve of the match.

“He will open tomorrow [Wednesday)]. You want to get your best strikers facing as many balls as possible. The form he’s in, the way he’s playing, it makes sense to get him at the top of the order,” Farbrace said.

Jos Buttler and Australia

Out of all the knocks he played in the ODI series that includes an unbeaten 91, his hundred was the best. He played 100 balls for the first time in his career but to stay there till the end with 110 runs to his name and take the team to a memorable 1-wicket win in the last ODI was a mind-blowing effort. Buttler aggregated 275 runs in the series with two half centuries and a hundred.

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