IPL 2018: Jos Buttler Was A Class Apart, Says Stephen Fleming

Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming lavished praise on Jos Buttler after the latter’s unbeaten 95 guided Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling win over the Men in Yellow. For most part of the game, the Super Kings looked in control. However, their failure to get the better of Buttler eventually cost them the game.

Chasing 177, the Royals sprung a few surprise by promoting another Englishman- Ben Stokes – as an opener. But unlike Buttler, Stokes failed to justify the decision. The allrounder departed after scoring just 11. The Super Kings then managed to get rid of Ajinkya Rahane (4) and Prashant Chopra (8) cheaply. Sanju Samson also departed after scoring 21. However, the Super Kings just could not came up with a move to stop Buttler. Their ploy to attack Buttler with spin early on did not work out as the right-hander raced away to 40 off just 21 balls at the end of the powerplay.

During the middle overs, the Super Kings managed to put a brake on the scoring rate. However, Buttler did not lose his patience and overcame the tough period on a tough pitch to play a brilliant knock. He scored the required 12 runs off the final over to guide his team to win in the must-win clash. Buttler’s unbeaten 95 runs came off 60 balls including 11 fours and 2 sixes.

“I was pretty comfortable with the score that we got. But we had to get Stokes and Buttler early, we got Stokes but as I said, Buttler was a class apart. He was able to take the conditions out of play, he still found it difficult as the game went on. We still felt we had a chance if we got him out, but we just didn’t get him out,” said Fleming at the post-match press conference.

The head coach further defended his bowlers after they failed to get rid of Buttler.

“It [bowling] could have been better… it’s under pressure that Buttler played a very good innings on a difficult track. We could have been more accurate, we missed a few times. But fair bit of pressure with the way Buttler played,” said Fleming.

“It was almost two different games wasn’t it, if we could have got him out earlier, I think the result might have been quite different. But I think it was a great lone hand and we had no real answers. He put us under pressure, we hung in there and we certainly had our chances but we just couldn’t capitalise tonight,” he added. “We could have been more accurate, we could have got another five or ten runs, we could have bowled with a bit more accuracy at key times. But they were just better than us today, Buttler in particular.”

Despite the loss, the Super Kings are looking primed to make it to the playoffs. The MS Dhoni-led side is currently second in the table with 7 wins in 11 games. Another win will all but seal their passage to the playoffs.

The Super Kings next face table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.