'Jos is the Best White-ball Opener in the World': Sangakkara's Massive Praise as Buttler Roars Back to Form

Jos Buttler roared back to form with a scintillating 58-ball century, helping the Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by 6 wickets to maintain their winning streak in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

Chasing 183, Buttler joined forces with skipper Sanju Samson to stitch a 148-partnership for the second wicket and then pulled off a stunning victory with a six which also took him to his sixth hundred in what was his 100^th IPL match.

Buttler’s blazing knock left head coach Kumar Sangakkara so impressed that he said the English batter is, by far, the best white ball opener in world cricket. As per the stats, Virat Kohli may be leading the IPL charts with 316 runs as an opener but Buttler seems to have won Sangakkara’s heart.

Asked about Buttler’s return to form, Sangakkara said, “Jos is the best white-ball opener in the world, and all he needed to do was sit back and ignore some of the noise.”

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Buttler, on his part, agreed there was anxiety with his poor run of form in recent times.

“However long you’ve played the game, you still have those anxieties and stresses. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself it’ll be okay. Just keep digging in, and working hard, at some point we will be okay. I actually did feel really good in the last game, even though I only scored 13 or something,” he added.

Riding on Kohli’s century, RCB posted 183/3 but Royals took 19.1 overs to chase the target and secure their fourth win on the trot. RCB skipper Faf du Plessis felt they were 15 runs short but also conceded that batting became better in the second innings.

“I did feel we could have maximised 10 or 15 more towards the end. It was a good toss to win, you did see that it played much nicer with the dew,” Sangakkara said.

“We tried, but it was quite tricky to hit. With the spinners, a lot of balls were hitting the bottom of the bat. I think the pitch definitely got better. That’s what dew does, that’s the nature of the wicket. I thought it was a good toss for them to win,” he added.