Buttler: IPL gave me huge amounts of confidence

Cricket365
June 5, 2018

Jos Buttler has credited his stint in this season’s Indian Premier League (IPL) for his impressive form for England in the recent two-match Test series against Pakistan.

There was plenty of criticism for new national selector Ed Smith after Buttler was recalled to the Test side without having played any first-class cricket in this year’s County Championship.

Buttler, however, was lighting up the IPL with his performances for the Rajasthan Royals, hitting 548 runs in 13 innings at an average of 54 and strike-rate of 155.

The 27-year-old then played his first Test in almost two years against Pakistan at Lord’s and hit scores of 14, 67 before playing a match-winning knock of 80 not out in the second Test at Headingley that England won to draw the series.

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Buttler said: “Those couple of weeks in the IPL gave me huge amounts of confidence. To be in those pressure situations in India, playing in front of crowds, the pressure of being an overseas player.

“That showed me a lot about where I was at and where I can get to, so that gave me a lot of confidence. For me, not trying to worry about the colour of the ball definitely helps.

“Having put in good performances elsewhere and not putting as much pressure on myself.

“In T20 there’s generally another game soon after, so you know you’ve got another opportunity coming up. You probably just move on if you fail. But in Test cricket, if you get out early, you have a long time to think about it.”

After a hectic few weeks Buttler has been rested for the one-off ODI against Scotland on Sunday before returning for the five ODIs against Australia.