Jos Buttler admits 2026 has not started the way he – or Gujarat Titans – would have liked, yet the England white-ball captain insists he is “trusting my game, trusting my experience” as he looks for the big score that has so far eluded him.
Two outings in this IPL have brought 38 (33) against Punjab Kings and 26 (14) versus Rajasthan Royals. Add in a lean stretch of 11 T20Is for England – average 15.27, strike-rate below 125 – and the numbers hardly flatter. Even so, Buttler believes the foundations remain solid.
“I feel good actually,” he told For the Love of Cricket, the podcast he co-hosts with Stuart Broad. “Feel good with the break after the [T20] World Cup, just get to put the bat down and have some space. Basically, just focusing on myself, and on my set-up and making sure when the ball is released I am in a good position – which I do.
“And then just trusting my game, trusting my experience, and trying to let it happen. I’ve got in some good positions, like getting in with a couple of starts. You always want to go on and make those match-winning contributions, but it’s nice to be feeling calm in the middle and in a good space. Hopefully that can keep that going.”
The calm head is welcome inside a Titans dressing-room still searching for its first win. Young opener B Sai Sudharsan – responsible for 64 of Buttler’s 64-run partnership last week – reckons the breakthrough is close. “He looks closer than anyone else,” the left-hander said on Tuesday, convinced a sizeable Buttler innings is not far away.
For now the 33-year-old is keeping thoughts simple. “Every day you start on nought and that’s kind of where I’ve been looking at,” he explained. “Just looking forward, not thinking of the past, looking forward to the games, and just trying to be measured and not reading too much into past successes or past failures.
“Sometimes you can – and I have certainly done it at times – get sort of a mental block against a certain bowler or a certain venue, and say ‘this doesn’t work for me, this ground.’ Or ‘why can’t I score runs at any ground’ or that kind of mentality. I’m trying to be really distant from that.”
A fresh voice in his ear is former Australia opener Matthew Hayden, drafted in as GT batting coach. “It’s been great to lean into his experiences,” Buttler said. “He’s a big man, you can just imagine his presence when he was batting, but when he’s speaking one-to-one, that aura is quite good. Getting to experience that has been cool. We’ve been talking about really simple things.”
The Titans head to the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday to face Delhi Capitals. Shubman Gill, expected back from a sore neck, should resume the captaincy with Buttler likely at No. 3 and Sai Sudharsan keeping his spot at the top. A first win would steady the campaign; Buttler knows a return to form might just deliver it.
