The excitement of the IPL gets the adrenaline going: Jos Buttler

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Jos Buttler
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Jos Buttler. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Defending champions Mumbai Indians registered their first win of the tournament after losing their first game. Skipper Rohit Sharma was back into form and guided his team through the chase yesterday night, ensuring a 6 wicket win.

Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey’s respective half-centuries along with Andre Russell’s 17-ball 36 run cameo took Kolkata to 187. MI bowler, still would felt little easy as the KKR outfit were at one stage, with 138 on the board in 15 overs, were racing towards a score past 200.

“In the middle overs we were thinking 200 but I got out; Russell then had a decent partnership with the captain, but there was a stage when two new batsmen were in,” said Pandey after the game. “It isn’t easy for any team to have two new batsmen at the crease and go for it. That’s where we lacked a little bit. The way we started, we should have got 200. Maybe me, Gauti bhai or Russell should have stayed till the end.”

Rohit remained unbeaten and led from the front, taking on the role of the aggressor from the start. He shared a fifty-run stand with Parthiv Patel at the top. Mitchell McClenaghan, after being promoted to No.4, played a short quickfire knock. But, the man who really made a difference for Mumbai Indian after Rohit Sharma was the English wicket keeper batsman.

“It was a master stroke to send in Mitchell McClenaghan who got a few sixes to give us some momentum,” said Buttler. “In T20s ideally, you want your top three batting the majority of the balls. If you do that, you generally get a good score on the board. Gambhir faced a lot of balls for them and you get a good total with guys playing around him. It’s a pretty good template in a Twenty20 if one of your top three is there until the end, you’ll be pretty much there,” he added.

Buttler, himself, in his second Indian Premier League game, came out all guns blazing and smashed three boundaries and as many sixes in a 22-ball 41, while Rohit was happy to take the backseat in their 66-run stand.

“It was great to have Rohit at the other end. He’s a very calm character and had everything under control. He had a lot of confidence to be there until the end and win the game, so that rubbed off on me. He was in such good form and so calm and I think for me, the excitement of the IPL gets the adrenaline going but to have him at the other end just seeing him seeing the game out just settled me down,” said Buttler.

“I feel in pretty good form. Having played my first IPL game (run-out for 0 in Mumbai), it felt good (to come back strong) and I’ve now seen what’s it all about. There were less surprises today and I could focus more on the cricket as opposed to getting that wow factor of the crowd and the razzmatazz of the IPL.”

Buttler on the day, though, found himself in uncharted territory as Parthiv kept wickets, while he was made to stretch his legs a bit. “It felt a bit naked running around there without my gloves on,” Buttler joked. “I fielded a lot before in my career as well as wicketkeeper, so nice to stretch the legs today.”

Buttler, however, in the lead up to the game, found himself at the receiving end of some workout time with Ricky Ponting, Mumbai’s coach – something he seemed more than grateful for.

“You pinch yourself that someone like Ricky Ponting is throwing balls to you. It’s obviously one of the great things about the IPL that you get to meet these guys. I have a specific routine before every time I bat before games and facing throw-downs to build my confidence is a key part of that and to have a key guy like him doing it and passing on information and making you feel good and comfortable is key to performing the next day,” he said.

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