Here’s Why Rohit Sharma Is The Dream Opening Partner Of Jos Buttler: 14 years after winning their first title in the inaugural IPL season in 2008, the Rajasthan Royals have emerged as a strong contender to win the IPL 2022. Sanju Samson’s side has now won 4 of their 6 matches so far this season and are well-placed for a top-four finish.
At the forefront of this success in the first half of the season for the Royals has been their best batsman Jos Buttler, who is, at the time of writing, the Orange Cap holder.
The Englishman has smashed 375 runs in 6 innings, at an average of 75, striking at 156. Buttler has notched up two centuries – vs Mumbai Indians and vs Kolkata Knight Riders – along with a couple of fifties.
Only once in these 6 innings has Buttler got out for a score below 30. He’s now seriously threatening Virat Kohli’s IPL season record of 973 runs that the then Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper registered in 2016.
Rohit Sharma is Jos Buttler’s dream opening partner from current era
While Jos Buttler would be a dream T20 opener from current players for the fans, he was asked recently in an interview about which batsman will be his dream opening partner. Buttler was quick to take the name of India and Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma from this era and Sir Viv Richards from the past eras.
Jos Buttler (in Espn Cricinfo) said “My dream opening partner will be Rohit Sharma from current Era”.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 22, 2022
Interestingly, Jos Buttler played along with Rohit Sharma at the Mumbai Indians in the 2016 and 2017 IPL seasons before being bought by RR.
While Buttler is leading the run-scoring charts, Sharma is finding it difficult to get going this season. The MI skipper has scored only 114 runs in 7 innings so far, with just one score in excess of 30 and three single-digit scores.
Buttler was also asked about his equation with teammate Ravichandran Ashwin regarding the ‘Mankad’, the run-out of the non-striker at the bowler’s end. He was asked if he captained Ashwin, would he have allowed the off-spinner to affect the ‘Mankad’ dismissal– to which the England batter replied, “No.”
Further, when asked if Ashwin would listen to Buttler, the Royals opener said, “No” with a chuckle.
