IPL 2022: Shane Warne was the first ‘royal’; Jos Buttler is the ‘reigning royal’, says Sanjay Manjrekar
IPL 2022: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar says Jos Buttler is the ‘reigning royal’ after the charismatic England cricketer struck an unbeaten 106 off 60 balls to take Rajasthan Royals to their second ever IPL final.
The Sanju Samson-led Royals upset Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets in Qualifier 2 on May 27 to set up a title duel with Gujarat Titans later that day. Buttler’s century was his first in a chase this season.
Buttler has been in incredible form this season, scoring 824 runs at an average of nearly 59 and a strike rate of 151.47. This season, he has also scored four hundreds and an equal number of half-tons, making him the leading run-getter in the IPL 2022.
Buttler is just 25 runs away from passing David Warner for second position on the all-time IPL scorers’ list in a single season. In 2016, the Australian scored 848 runs for SRH. While Warner’s total is comfortably within reach of Buttler’s when RR takes on GT in the final on Sunday, breaking Virat Kohli’s all-time record of 973 runs in a season (2016) seems unlikely, given that the England cricketer will need to hit 150 runs to surpass the seasoned Indian batsman.
Lavishing praise on Buttler, Manjrekar said on Espncricinfo’s T20 Time Out:
“My reading watching that entire (Buttler) innings was that he was actually, because he felt that he was one of the key players and the target wasn’t huge, playing a slightly responsible innings, and it was that kind of an innings (vs RCB in Qualifier 2) where I’ve tweeted after a long time saying where you play to the merit of the ball that kind of an innings and he’s got a 106 off just 60 balls.
“Just spotted one shot against (Josh) Hazlewood where he sort of played that T20 kind of shot. (But) All the other were him waiting for the ball to be loose by his standards, so the margin for error for the bowlers was minimal.
“That (Mohd) Siraj pick up shot or, you know, Shahbaz Ahmed, the moment he was in his slot, (Buttler) hit him for a six. So, the approach was ‘Ok, I’m gonna look for the loose balls’ and he ended up playing this kind of an innings. So, you can have that approach, you can have that attitude, but finally you must have those skills and the ability, and we are blessed to have seen this kind of an innings. Shane Warne was the first ‘royal’; this one is the ‘reigning royal’,” concluded Manjrekar.
In the IPL 2008, Warne helped Rajasthan Royals to their first title.
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