Although Virat Kohli is currently topping the IPL charts with 316 runs as an opener, Rajasthan Royals' head coach
Kumar Sangakkara
strongly believes that
Jos Buttler
is the premier white-ball opener in world cricket.
Buttler returned to form with an unbeaten century off 58 balls, guiding Rajasthan to a comfortable six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore, despite Kohli's remarkable eighth IPL hundred.
When questioned about the resurgence of England's limited-overs captain, Sangakkara commented: "Jos is the best white-ball opener in the world, and all he needed to do was sit back and ignore some of the noise."
Buttler admitted to feeling anxious due to his recent poor run of form.
"However long you've played the game, you still have those anxieties and stresses. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself it'll be okay. Just keep digging in, working hard, at some point we will be okay. I actually did feel really good in the last game, even though I only scored 13 or something," said the England batsman.
Powered by Kohli's century, RCB managed to set a score of 183/3. However, Royals needed 19.1 overs to chase down the target, securing their fourth consecutive victory.
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis believed they fell short by 15 runs but acknowledged the improved batting performance in the second innings.
"I did feel we could have maximised 10 or 15 more towards the end. It was a good toss to win, you did see that it played much nicer with the dew."
"We tried, but it was quite tricky to hit. With the spinners, a lot of balls were hitting the bottom of the bat. I think the pitch definitely got better. That's what dew does, that's the nature of the wicket. I thought it was a good toss for them to win," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
English (US) ·