Jos Buttler Attributes Resurgence To Sessions With Two-Time World Cup Winner

Back in form after his struggles in the T20 World Cup, Jos Buttler has attributed the resurgence to his sessions with former Australian opener Matthew Hayden and his decision to take some time off the game. A fine bowling effort, led by seamer Prasidh Krishna, and then half-centuries from Shubman Gill and Buttler saw Gujarat Titans register a comfortable win against Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL here on Sunday. Player of the Match Buttler was asked about his sessions with Hayden at the presentation ceremony.

"He just asked actually one of the first few sessions, how well are you watching the ball? It doesn't look like you're tracking it that well. So, you know, great players like him with the most simple advice, which is nice. And yeah, he's been great," Buttler said.

"I've really enjoyed spending time with him. Obviously, he's got a big presence and that aura. So when he speaks, you listen," the Englishman added.

Buttler endured a disappointing 2026 T20 World Cup, struggling for form with 87 runs in eight innings, contributing to an early exit for England.

"Yeah, it's been around for a while. And yeah, nice to be back scoring runs. Obviously had a bit of a lean patch in the last few months. So nice to find some form and contribute to another win. I actually had a little bit of space from the game and time to just kind of think. And it sort of just came to me," Buttler said.

"I've just been focusing a lot in the weeks I've been here on my setup and my basics. I think a few technical issues maybe crept into my game, which actually allowed me not really seeing the ball that well.

"So it's a hard game if you're not picking up the ball well. So I've just been focusing on everything pre delivery and then backing that. As I said, I've played for 15 years. I'll know what to do when I get in." He said having his family around too helped.

"Obviously, you know, the cricket is high intensity and it's busy. So it's nice to have them here and distractions away from the game and getting, you know, spend time with them." GT skipper Gill too was in his element, striking 56 off 40 balls, as his side notched their second successive win after restricting LSG to 164 for eight.

"The way we bowled in the powerplay was very impressive and how we kept up the pressure in the middle overs was tremendous," Gill said.

Gill was full of praise for his bowlers.

On Rashid Khan, he said, "Makes my life very easy, the way Rashid is bowling at the moment. Getting us back in the game every time another bowler is under pressure." Speaking about Mohammed Siraj, Gill said, "I think in the first six overs it's very difficult to do the simple things so it's important to come back and think what are the simple things I can do in the moment and I think in this match he did that really well. That got us back in the game, the way Siraj bowled.

"And even KG (Kagiso Rabada), he went for runs but he was spot on with the lengths." Asked about the surface, he said, "Yeah it wasn't easy to bat on. I feel we gave a few extra runs towards the end but we would have taken that score." 'Not enough runs' ============ LSK captain Rishabh Pant believed his side did not put up enough runs on the board batting first.

"See, definitely not enough runs. There's nothing taking away from the fact that they bowled well. I think in a wicket like this, a score like 170 to 180 is a really good score. But, you know, the wicket kept on falling and they put enough pressure on us to get those wickets going.

"I wouldn't say I'm a hard guy... There were opportunities in the game. We just couldn't grab it enough," Pant said.

Talking about the batting line-up, he said, "Definitely it's a great lineup. But the tournament has just started here, you know. We're not putting pressure on players because especially the senior guys, they know what to do." PTI AH AH APS APS

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Topics mentioned in this article

Gujarat Titans Lucknow Super Giants Jos Buttler Matthew Hayden IPL 2026 Cricket