Jos Buttler picks Indian great as his dream opening partner

Rajasthan opening batter Jos Buttler is having a dream run with the bat in the ongoing Indian T20 League 2022. Buttler has scored 491 runs in seven games, including three hundreds. His first hundred came against his former side Mumbai early in the tournament. He then hit two back-to-back centuries against Kolkata and Delhi respectively.

With that, he equaled Shikhar Dhawan’s record of hitting two back-to-back hundreds in the cash-rich. Dhawan made this record for his former team Delhi, against Chennai and current team, Punjab in 2020. Meanwhile, the 31-year-old is also just one ton away from equaling Virat Kohli’s record of hitting four tons in a season.

Kohli hit four tons for Bangalore in 2016 where he went on to score 973 runs in 16 games. On the other hand, Buttler has picked two greats of the game as his dream opening partners. First one is former West Indies skipper Vivian Richards while the second one is current India skipper Rohit Sharma.

“From the past, it would be Vivian Richards. I would love to see him play T20 cricket. From the current, Rohit Sharma,” Buttler said on ESPNcricinfo’s ‘polite enquiries’.

Notably, Sharma and Buttler played together for Mumbai in seasons 2016 and 2017 before the latter joined Rajasthan in 2018. Since then, the Taunton-born player has been an integral part of the 2008 winners. Further in the conversation, the right-hander said that Gujarat and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan is the toughest bowler to face in the powerplay. “Rashid Khan. He has got my number at the minute,” the right-hander added.

After being asked about his best-innings in the Indian T20 League career, Buttler said that his innings of unbeaten 93 against Mumbai is the best innings of his career. In that game, the Men In Pink won by seven wickets. “My best IPL innings was against Mumbai Indians in 2018 when I got 93, I think,” said Buttler.