Table of Contents
Jos Buttler slams Ashish Nehra: The TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 ended a few days back, after two months of cricketing excitement. The tournament finally concluded after Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won their second trophy, beating the Gujarat Titans (GT) by 5 wickets. They successfully defended their trophy and became the third team after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) to do so.
In the final Gujarat Titans, after being asked to bat first, lost the wickets of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan early. As per the order, Jos Buttler was to be sent in next, but there was a surprising move from the GT management as they sent in Nishant Sindhu at No.3 instead of Buttler.
Nishant Sindhu gamble retaliated for GT
The move proved to be costly for the Titans as the Southpaw did not have the best of outings in the final and was dismissed for 20 runs off 18 deliveries. Jos Buttler, who batted the whole season at No. 3, was sent down to No. 4, where he struggled to score runs in the game and was back after playing a rash stroke for 19 runs.
Jos Buttler has now revealed the reason for the decision to promote youngster Nishant Sindhu ahead of him in the IPL final. He revealed that it was Titans head coach Ashish Nehra who sent the young batter ahead of the veteran superstar. This was a gamble that failed to pay off.
We are going to send Nishant- Jos Buttler
He said that the surprising promotion of Nishant Sindhu was a tactical decision from head coach Ashish Nehra. The England player admitted he was about to walk out following Shubman's early dismissal until knowing that the youngster would be sent in ahead of him.
"When the first wicket went down, I got up to put my helmet on. But Ashish Nehra said, 'You sit back down, we are going to send Nishant in at 3'. I did ask him after the game, and he just said it felt reactive at that point, and it was a good chance to get Nishant in the game as he's a top-order batter," Buttler said on For The Love of Cricket Podcast.
He has been sometimes on that slippery- Buttler on Nishant Sindhu
Jos Buttler believed that the reason behind sending Nishant up the order was for a better role in the game, because he did not have the opportunity to bat much and had often found himself pushed down the order or left with few balls to bat in earlier matches.
"He has been sometimes on that slippery slope where the team gets going, and he has ended up not batting or batting at 7. So it was a decision to get him in the game. He had batted ahead of me in another game against KKR. Right or wrong, it just didn't work out for us," he added.
Jos Buttler, since joining the GT side in 2025, has played at No.3 and has been well-equipped for the position. Buttler has scored 538 runs in the 2025 season, and this season, the former England captain scored 526 runs.
