Test recall is a fantastic surprise, feels like a second debut: Jos Buttler

Jos Buttler played his last Test match almost a year and a half ago, against India at the end of 2016. Since then, the 27-year-old did not get a call-up for donning the white jersey. However, he used this time well to mould himself into one of the most formidable limited-overs batsmen in the world.

Clearly, the efforts paid off as he has been recalled to join the England Test squad for the upcoming series against Pakistan. Buttler probably earned this opportunity riding on his successful IPL 2018 campaign with the Rajasthan Royals. In the last one month, he hit five consecutive half centuries for his team and has taken his total individual score to a whopping 548, with the best knock of 95*.

Fantastic surprise

But Buttler did not expect to be called for the Test team anytime soon, and that is clear from his words. It was so unexpected that he says it feels like “another debut”.

“It wasn’t particularly on my radar,” said Buttler as per Skysports. “It’s a fantastic surprise, an incredible opportunity and it feels like another debut really.”

In fact, he had different plans for the coming summer season. Buttler was gearing up to spend the next few months playing in the County Championship for Lancashire. But now he would have an even better go at the red ball, and one more chance at the classic format of the game.

“I sort of planned the end of this summer and I knew I was going to be available for a lot of Championship cricket for Lancashire, so that was a real focus of mine to target red-ball cricket,” Buttler said. “You always think maybe that race is run so to get that call – it’s unbelievable and an awesome opportunity.”

The team wants him to play his natural game. His job would be to continue batting the way he’s done in the IPL and infuse the attacking style into the England side.

“They want me to play in the way that suits me and in the fashion that will get the best out of myself. For me it’s about expressing myself, trusting my instincts and allowing that to flourish rather than fighting it. I’m pretty sure I won’t be opening and trying to slog it in the first six overs but hopefully I can entertain,” Buttler added.

He also disagrees with the popular belief that Test cricket is a dying species and nobody is interested in it anymore. In his opinion, it is more of a general assumption more than what people actually feel about it.

“You get the feeling talking to everyone that they still feel Test cricket is the best”, he said with conviction. He brought up the example of Virat Kohli going to play for Surrey to support his case. It goes on to show that players still hold test cricket in the highest regard. Virat Kohli signing for Surrey to get used to playing in England so he can play well in Test matches shows that it’s at the forefront of players’ minds – Test cricket is still the pinnacle,” the English wicketkeeper-batsman concluded.

The first Test match against Pakistan starts on May 24, Thursday at Lord’s.

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