RR vs KKR: "Don't come to IPL.."- Irfan Pathan warns Jos Buttler

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has made a no-no-sense statement against Rajasthan Royals' English opener Jos Buttler who has left IPL 2024. 

Jos Buttler left the Rajasthan Royals camp a couple of days ago to join his National team for their upcoming 4-match T20I series against Pakistan. The reigning World T20 champions will be playing those 4 T20Is on home soil, starting from Wednesday, May 22nd onwards in Headingley. 

What did Irfan Pathan say about Jos Buttler? 

The Rajasthan Royals seemingly struggled in their 13th league stage match against the Punjab Kings last night at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati. The reason behind their struggle in the batting line-up was the absence of opener Jos Buttler whose partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal up top had done wonders for the team. 

Jos Buttler held the key to Rajasthan's good performances as whenever he has been able to score runs, the team has been on the winning side. However, his absence has created a massive hole in the Royals team as they did not get the aggressive thrust from his replacement last night. 

Another English batter Tom Kohler-Cadmore was the one who replaced Jos Buttler in the opening slot but the former failed to get going in his IPL debut. RR needed the 29-year-old to cause an impact right away as there aren't too many games left but Cadmore left the crease after a disappointing 23-ball 18 18-run knock. 

He wasn't the only one that struggled in the Barsapara track which had remained slow throughout the game. Except for homeboy Riyan Parag and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, no batter could even score more than 20 runs. While Parag smashed 48 off 34, Ashwin had contributed 28 off 19. 

Elsewhere Jaiswal departed for 4, Sanju Samson scored 18, Rovman Powell also scored 4, Donovan Ferreira departed for 7 and Trent Boult scored 12 off 9. That helped RR post 145 as the target and the void created through Jos Buttler's decision to leave for England has started to pinch RR. 

Buttler's decision to join his National team at the backend of IPL 2024 intrigued Irfan Pathan, who has constantly bashed players this season. Pathan was very disappointed with the Englishman leaving the Royals in the most crucial phase of the tournament and posted a cryptic post on X that, "Either be available for full season or don’t come!" 

Rajasthan still have a league game in hand against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday, May 19th. After that, Sanju Samson's side will play their play-off matches and it will be interesting to see how many games they play in the knockout stages. They already have qualified for the last stages but their final position in the IPL 2024 points table has not been fixed yet. 

A win in last night's games would have ensured that they finished 2nd but after the loss, they remained 2nd with 16 points. If they lose their tie against KKR and if Chennai win their last league game against RCB by a huge margin, then Rajasthan will finish 3rd. That means they will have to play 2 games to reach the final.