Jennifer
The 2023 Indian Premier League season has gotten off to a strong start for Jos Buttler of the Rajasthan Royals, just like his team. However, as the season went on, both players struggled with inconsistent play; while Buttler recorded an unwelcome IPL achievement, the Royals are all but out of contention for the playoffs. He had the most ducks in a single season (5) after being dismissed on 0 in the team’s final league encounter against Punjab Kings on Friday night.
Jos Buttler led the Royals to victories in the first four games of this season with scores of 54, 19, 79, and 52. However, after the fourth game, his performance declined as he could only record one more 50+ score (95 against Sunrisers Hyderabad). Buttler recorded five ducks in the next 10 games, the most for a player this season.
RR eliminated PBKS after their 4-wicket win
All of the players with four IPL ducks to their names in a season were Herschelle Gibbs (Deccan Chargers, 2009), Mithun Manhas (Pune Warriors India, 2011), Manish Pandey (Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2012), Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals, 2020), Nicholas Pooran (Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2021), and Eoin Morgan (Kolkata Knight Riders, 2021).
In 14 games throughout the season, Buttler amassed 392 runs at a strike rate of 141.01. In their final IPL league match in Dharamsala, Sam Curran (49*), Jitesh Sharma (44), and Shahrukh Khan (41*) earlier in the game helped Punjab Kings to a challenging 187 for 5 against Rajasthan Royals. When PBKS was asked to take the first strike, they were 50 for 4 and in trouble, but Curran and Jitesh contributed 64 to turn the innings around.
The English all-rounder and Shahrukh then amassed 73 runs off 37 balls, 46 of which came in the final two overs, to help them to a respectable total. However, the maximum point total for both PBKS and RR is 14, which might not be sufficient for the playoffs. Finally, RR defeated PBKS by four wickets as the game went on, which means PBKS are now eliminated from the IPL 2023 playoff race.
Here’s how fans reacted:
Jos bhai yuzi ke sath kam raha karo…uske jaisi batting hone lagi hai
— Devanshu (@Imdevanshujani) May 19, 2023
GOAT ROHIT SHARMA 🔥🔥🛐
An Inspiration to Millions— Sjlkrp🇮🇳🚩 (@sjlpdr) May 19, 2023
Buttler be like “ Main DUCK par sawar hun” 😂
— Vipin Tiwari (@vipintiwari952) May 20, 2023
I’m sorry for saying this but Aakash Chopra sach me panoti hai jaise unhone bola Jos 0 ka hat-trick hoga and next ball pe Jos out hogya😂
— Abhishek Das (@imAbh1shekk) May 19, 2023
Thank you pic.twitter.com/pD81T9ZB4O
— Avinash P (@cricket_shaukee) May 19, 2023
Buttler is about to have duck meal for 5 consecutive days after IPL
— Nanoshi (@0xNanoshi) May 19, 2023
RR team management to Jos Buttler pic.twitter.com/vDEI1d3tIh
— Pawan Shukla (@Shukla8175) May 19, 2023
Jos the Boss will be back: pic.twitter.com/KLu0GJjeUO
— Goliath (@PitchingOutside) May 19, 2023
