Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler has carried his thunderous form from IPL 2022 and international cricket into IPL 2023 as well. And after 3 innings, he’s reclaimed the Orange Cap and would like to continue donning that as he did last season when he amassed 863 runs.
In 3 knocks so far, Jos Buttler has recorded scores of 54 (22) vs SRH, 19 (11) vs PBKS (while playing with a hand injury) and today, 79 (51) vs DC while playing with stitches on that hand injury.
Usually the more destructive one, however, against DC, in Guwahati, Jos Buttler was over-shined by his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal, who started off the game in a blistering fashion, slamming Khaleel Ahmed for 5 fours in the first over itself. Jaiswal and Jos Buttler shared a mammoth opening stand of 98 runs in 51 balls with the young left-hander smoking 60 runs in 31 balls.
Even then, Jos Buttler didn’t tone down his tempo and continued on to his supreme form.
While Jaiswal was the aggressive one today, Jos Buttler wasn’t far behind: with Jaiswal, Buttler smashed 35 (20); RR lost Jaiswal, Samson, and Parag in quick intervals as Buttler held his end during the rough patch. With Hetmyer then, and in the slog overs, Jos Buttler teed off like only he does: he smashed 24 runs off his last 14 balls and got out only in the 19th over of RR’s innings. Hetmyer’s cameo of 39 (21) ensured RR reached 199/4.
Fans on Twitter hailed the incredible consistency of Jos Buttler, not just his run-amassing prowess but also to do it at a terrific strike rate, something which many of the other established openers in the world fail to do in the shortest format.
Here are some tweets hailing Jos Buttler’s knock vs DC:
Orange cap holder in IPL 2023 – Jos Buttler 🔥 pic.twitter.com/3BUnpgo2aw
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 8, 2023
Jos Buttler in the last 21 innings in IPL:
124(64), 35(28), 100(68), 70*(47), 13(11), 54(24), 103(61), 116(65), 8(9), 67(52), 22(25), 30(16), 7(11), 2(6), 2(5), 89(56), 106*(60), 39(35), 54(22), 19(11), 79(52)
The best better currently in this league. pic.twitter.com/BsGzmBze4f
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 8, 2023
Jaiswal Buttler is an opening partnership you always have to make time to watch anytime any place no excuses 🧨
— Dave (@CricketDave27) April 8, 2023
Jos The Boss on display!
79 (51) with 11 fours and a six. The prime form of Jos Buttler continues. He's set the stage on fire with his batting since last IPL. pic.twitter.com/V8YLPULuTb
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 8, 2023
10 50-plus scores in 20 IPL innings for Jos Buttler since the start of the 2022 tournament.
Totally relentless.#IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/wVh7U8ryNQ
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 8, 2023
Rajasthan Royals while batting first in Powerplay:
vs SRH – 85/1(6)
vs DC – 68/0(6)This is madness from Buttler & Jaiswal.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 8, 2023
Jos Buttler when Yashasvi Jaiswal is on strike. #RRvsDC pic.twitter.com/shfPrkYwXE
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) April 8, 2023
Buttler & Jaiswal have hit the same amount of boundaries (13) in the first five overs as SRH hit in their entire innings yesterday.
Obviously contrasting conditions but still very funny
— HL (@Haarrre) April 8, 2023
Jos Buttler takes the Orange Cap from Ruturaj Gaikwad after his blistering knock of 79 off just 51 deliveries…#IPL2023 #RRvsDC #DelhiCapitals #RiyanParag #SanjuSamson #YashasviJaiswal #JosButtler #TrentBoult #RajasthanRoyalspic.twitter.com/1HFiWcVZoR
— OneCricket (@OneCricketApp) April 8, 2023
Imagine bowling a very good ball that would hit the top of the stumps. Then Jos Buttler blocks it through cover for four. Unbelievable.#IPL2023
— CricBlog ✍ (@cric_blog) April 8, 2023
Just Another Day At The Office For Jos Buttler! 👌🏼 #RRvsDC pic.twitter.com/z5JsEa44nG
— Prathamesh Avachare (@onlyprathamesh) April 8, 2023
Most runs (Since 2022 IPL)
1015 – Buttler*
679 – Rahul
586 – Dhawan
564 – Duplessis
560 – Gill#IPL2023— CricBeat (@Cric_beat) April 8, 2023
Most 75+ Scores in IPL
23 – Gayle
18 – Warner
16 – Kohli
14 – ABD
14 – Rahul
14 – Dhawan
12 – Buttler*
12 – Watson— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) April 8, 2023
https://twitter.com/12th_khiladi/status/1644669397871763462?s=20
Jos Buttler entering after playing 79(51).#RRvsDC #IPL2023pic.twitter.com/xbvWu8LtoP
— Ashutosh Srivastava 🇮🇳 (@sri_ashutosh08) April 8, 2023
"Thank God for Jos Buttler" – Royals fans (probably)#IPL2023
— CricBlog ✍ (@cric_blog) April 8, 2023
Jaiswal-Jos Buttler is the most entertaining opening combo in the history of the IPL and we are just getting started pic.twitter.com/1UYyt07Tbh
— HS27™ (Rodri for BDR 🏆) (@Royal_HaRRa) April 8, 2023
Speaking in the mid-innings break, Jos Buttler said: “Cut my finger in the last game but a few stitches and good to play. (On Orange Cap) Nice to wear, but just glad to get a decent start to the season. This is a good wicket, so we need to bowl well to defend this. The powerplay was fantastic, but the bounce got lower as the ball got older and we lost some momentum in the middle-overs by losing a couple of wickets, hope Ashwin and Chahal could do the same for us.”
