England skipper and opening batter, Jos Buttler was at the helm leading the Rajasthan Royals’ record-leveling run-chase over the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. But it was not smooth sailing for Buttler as he struggled to get going initially, but he found his groove at the right time as he scored a fantastic century and scored the winning runs for the Royals to seal a win by two wickets and maintain their top spot in the points table.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Buttler took some inspiration from other sports stars which led to his resilience coming through at the very end to script an epic comeback victory for the ages.
“Keep believing, that was the real key today. At times, felt like I was struggling a bit for rhythm. Have been watching the golf and I saw a guy called Max Holmes. Anytime the negative thoughts come, I think the complete opposite and dare to dream. That’s what kept me going,” said the England T20 skipper.
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He even took a leaf out of the books of legends like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni who can keep calm under the biggest moments of pressure and this enabled him to deliver for the Royals and cement their spot at the top of the pile.
“At times you feel frustrated or you are questioning yourself. I was trying to tell myself it’d be okay, keep going, you’ll get your rhythm back and try to stay calm. There’s been plenty of times throughout the IPL, you’ve seen crazy things happen. Guys like Dhoni and Kohli, the way they stay till the end and keep believing, you’ve seen it so many times in the IPL and I was trying to do the same,” Buttler added.
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He even revealed some of the insights from the Director of Cricket for the Royals and one of the greatest batters of all time, Kumar Sangakkara who advised him to hang through the tough moments. This is not the first time that Buttler has been able to hang in there when he was unable to find his touch from ball one.
“That’s something Kumar Sangakkara has told me a lot. There’s always a little breaking point. The worst thing you can do when you are not feeling your best is to fight it, try to force the issue and give your wicket away. He just tells me to stay there and at some point, the momentum will change or you’ll find your rhythm or one shot will get you going,” Buttler revealed.
Buttler concluded by saying it was very satisfying to see it through to the end after starting off on a tough note.
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“That’s been a big part of my play over the last few years – try to stay the course and not get in my own way. (One of his greatest IPL innings?) I would think so. Anytime you’re not out at the end to see your team through, especially off the last ball, in a big run-chase, very satisfying,” he concluded.
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