ENG vs IND 2018: Not Surprised With the Way Jos Buttler has Played - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, on Monday, said he was not surprised to see Jos Buttler’s current form, having known about his abilities in the past.

Butter has not looked back since impressing for Rajasthan Royals in this year’s Indian Premier League.

Jos had started the IPL on a weak note. However, his fortunes changed once he got promoted as an opener, as he scored five fifties on the trot. He scored 67, 51, 82, 95* and 94* and 39 before leaving for national duty.

And the hard-hitting batsman carried that form in the national team. His IPL performance helped him win his place back in the Test team, and he duly delivered.

In the two-Test series against Pakistan, Jos Buttler struck the fifties in both the games.

His 67-run knock in the second innings of Lord’s Test could not help England avoid a nine-wicket defeat. But his stroke-filled 80 at Headingley led England to an innings and 55-run. It was a performance that squared the two-match series and earned Buttler the man-of-the-match champagne.

The wicket-keeper batsman did even better in the limited-overs series against Australia. In the five ODIs, Jos Buttler scored two fifties and a superb ton, helping England whitewash their bitter rivals. In the one-off T20, the right-hander slammed a 22-ball fifty.

Buttler’s stunning consistency might have surprised many, but Kohli is an exception. Speaking ahead of the first T20I against England, the India star said he enjoyed watching Buttler play.

“I am not surprised with the way Jos has played. We have all known about his abilities in the past as well.  It’s just that he has got more opportunity playing for Rajasthan in this season to show his skills. He’s certainly enjoying the role at the top of the order. 

He grabbed his chances with both hands. It was lovely to watch him play the way he was.  When you gain momentum in this format, and you continue for that long, it always feels good to watch. From that point of view, I really enjoyed watching him play,” he said.

Kohli further said sharing the dressing room with the English players in the IPL has helped the players of both the teams get to know each other well.

As many as 12 English players played this season  –  more than in any previous year. And Virat Kohli is hopeful that more English players would play in the IPL in the coming days.

“Apart from that, Chris (Woakes), Moeen (Ali) – these guys were in our team as well. Great guys, we had a great time together. We got along really well. 

It’s gonna make relations between the two teams even better. Because England hadn’t played so much of IPL, there was never that familiarity or warmth between the teams. This season has broken that barrier to a great extent. It’s gonna continue in the future. 

I heard a lot of people are keen to go and play. And they should. It’s a great league to play. As Jos has been saying for months now that it did great things to his mindset and he is taking it to all formats. I was glad that rigid mindset was kept aside and people were allowed to come over. It did great things to them,” he said.