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Gujarat Titans’ (GT) tactics in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 final were questioned as they lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) comprehensively. One of them was holding back Jos Buttler and sending Nishant Sindhu to bat at no.3. Days after the final loss, Buttler revealed that he was ready to go and bat at no.3 once skipper Shubman Gill’s wicket fell but head coach Ashish Nehra told him to ‘sit back down’ as he sent Sindhu, a ‘top-order batter’ at no.3. Former England captain also revealed that he confronted Nehra after the game.
“Can I ask why you batted [at] four in the final? Are you able to answer that?” asked Buttler’s former teammate, England’s legendary pacer Stuart Broad on ‘For the love of cricket’ podcast.
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“Yeah, well the wicket went down. I got up to put my helmet on and Ashish said, 'Sit back down. We're going to send Nishant in at three'. And I did ask him after the game. He just said he felt like not reactive at that point. It was a good chance to get Nishant in the game who's a top order batter, who has sometimes been on that slipper slope. If the team gets going, he's sort of ended up not batting and batted at seven. So, he felt like it gave him a chance to get in the game,” he added.
Buttler calls Krunal Pandya ‘smart operator’
Broad also asked whether it was the first time Sindhu was sent ahead of him. Buttler recalled another instance where he was held back. The Englishman admitted that the move didn’t work in GT’s favour. He also doffed his hat to RCB’s left-arm spinner who got him stumped off a wide yorker. Before the dismissal, Buttler had a plan but couldn’t execute it.
“I feel like I batted at four once before somewhere. Second time, he went ahead of me again at Kolkata. So, it wasn't the only time that happened. You know, right or wrong, it just didn't work out for us. I felt like when I was batting, I want to take it a little deep, having lost a few wickets, sort of go run-a-ball for a little bit and then try and pick up those boundaries and get going. And I just never got the boundaries. And I got done really by a good piece of bowling. He's a smart operator, Krunal Pandya. He saw me coming through. That wide fast yorker and I was stumped,” said the English wicketkeeper-batter.
Buttler wanted 180 on board
Buttler ended up scoring just 19 runs from 23 balls. He admitted scoring runs at a poor strike rate and felt that 180 would’ve been a challenging total on the surface.
“Disappointing, you sort of get worse than a run-a-ball in an IPL final. It's not a great look. I had a plan in my head of how I wanted to play, which I think was the right plan. I just didn't execute it. I think if we could have got up to 180, it would've been a really good score,” Buttler further added.
Buttler’s another 500-plus IPL season
Despite the final defeat, Buttler had his second consecutive 500-plus season for GT. In IPL 2026, he scored 526 runs from 17 innings at an average of 37.57 and strike rate of 152.46. He scored four fifties in the edition dominated by GT openers with 700-plus runs each.
Broad criticised Buttler’s demotion in final
Earlier, Broad wondered what led to GT think tank sending Buttler at no.4. In the post-match press conference, GT’s Director of Cricket, Vikram Solanki, said that there was no pre-discussion about the move and it was Nehra’s call in the dugout.
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