Jos Buttler has by far been the best batter in the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. The Rajasthan Royals (RR) opener already has three centuries and 491 runs under his belt and will be looking to overtake Virat Kohli's 973 runs in 2016, which is the most by a player in a single season of the IPL. He also needs one more century to equal the record for the most 100s in a single IPL season, also held by Kohli.
Praising Buttler and his impact in the ongoing IPL campaign, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen believes that incredible performances like these raise the standard of the tournament. Speaking on ‘Cricket Live’ on Star Sports, Pietersen said: “We are running out of adjectives and superlatives. The IPL is made incredible by the innings like these. The spectators love this, we love this, everybody in the studio loved this. I mean some of the shots he played you can’t buy them.
"You can’t practice that (because) no one sells it. You either have it or you don’t. He’s such a fine talent and in such a sublime form. When he starts to strike like that sometimes you’ve just got to say you know what, this guy is so good. He took his time and capitalised,” he added.
Pietersen also expects more such performances from the England wicketkeeper-batter, given his sublime form, “Jos did an unbelievable job against Delhi Capitals (in the previous game). I am sure he’ll continue to do so because when you’re in this kind of form in the tournament, you’ll just bat and bat and bat, especially when the wickets are this good. So, I don’t expect him to change the way he plays.”
Joining in the praises was former India spinner Piyush Chawla, who said that many players aim to score the number of runs in an entire season that the English cricketer has achieved halfway through. “We are only halfway through the tournament and he’s already scored 490-odd runs. Generally, people score that many runs in an entire season. He’s batting extremely well this season,” the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowler said.
The Royals will next face Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Tuesday at the MCS Stadium. Skipper for RCN, Faf du Plessis and his men will be eager to get back to winning ways after a disheartening nine-wicket loss to SRH in their last match.
