Jos Buttler turned up the heat for Rajasthan Royals in the 2022 IPL as he racked up 863 runs – the second-most in a single season. At one point, his form threatened to break the all-time record of 973 runs, set by Virat Kohli in the 2016 season. Despite going through a patch of indifferent form, the RR opener outscored the next-best batter by 247 runs!
Coming into the tournament, the Rajasthan Royals didn’t have a long batting line-up, with Trent Boult, New Zealand’s number XI, slotted to bat at eight. Ravichandran Ashwin, the all-rounder, was their number seven. Royals’ team structure meant that all the batters had to shoulder extra responsibility of getting the job done and not leaving it for the incoming batter.
Buttler is an explosive batter who can score quick runs as soon as he starts. The team structure in previous years meant that he had the license to go all out from ball one. This season, Buttler took on the extra responsibility, and he thrived!
Buttler remodelled his batting approach without losing his edge. If he lost out on one thing, he made up for it with the other. For example, Buttler played out the most dot balls (230) in this year’s IPL. 39.72% of his balls were dots. However, he made up for it by hitting the most Fours (83) and the most Sixes (45).
Playing as an opener can have various responsibilities depending on the team’s structure and playing approach. An opener can be a dasher who utilizes the Powerplay with an aggressive intent, someone who bats through the innings at a healthy run rate where other aggressive batters bat around him or a mix of both. Buttler adopted the hybrid approach.
The RR opener was often cautious during the start of his innings to preserve his wicket by playing high-percentage shots. Once set, he then made up for it by attempting more attacking shots. However, his approach didn’t always work, and his slow starts might have made it difficult for the Royals to recover. When Buttler didn’t go big, his team suffered.
Buttler scored four 50s and four 100s this year. However, all the 50s that did not get converted into 100s, ended up in the losing cause. This was largely due to Buttler being unable to bat long and compensate for his slower start in those matches.
After the first seven innings, Buttler had 491 runs at an average of 81.8. He looked set to finally break the monumental 973-run record, but his next seven innings saw him score only 138 runs at 19.7. However, RR were fortunate that Buttler regained his form in the play-offs and took them to the final.
Jos Buttler might not have helped the Rajasthan Royals lift their second IPL title, but he was one of the biggest reasons for them being the second-best team throughout the 2022 IPL season.