Buttler has flown back to England to participate in the ODI series against West Indies.
Gujarat Titans (GT) have suffered a massive setback, as one of their premium batters, Jos Buttler, will be absent for the IPL 2025 playoffs. Buttler has flown back to England to participate in the ODI series against West Indies, which kicked off yesterday.
That leaves a serious void in GT’s batting department, for they were heavily reliant on Buttler throughout the competition. While the openers did a fine job, the English wicketkeeper batter was equally consistent and formed the best trio of the tournament.
Buttler scored 538 runs at an average of 59.77 and a 163.03 strike rate in 13 innings this season, including five fifties. His batting ensured GT hardly needed anyone outside the top three to do the heavy lifting in the league stage.
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His absence has depleted GT’s batting unit, and they will be more reliant on Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill to do the bulk of the scoring in the knockout phase. Although they performed even with Jos Buttler present, the pressure will be higher due to the magnitude of the game and the fact that they can’t afford to falter here.
Gujarat Titans roped in Kusal Mendis as a temporary replacement for Jos Buttler, and he should come in straight away. Mendis is naturally a top-order batter and can bat at No.3, even though his record at this position is not great.
He has 365 runs at an average of 22.81 and a 125.86 strike rate in 17 innings, including two fifties, at No.3. These numbers don’t give any confidence, but the Titans have no other option but to play him.
The player pool was limited during the time of temporary replacement selection, and GT went with Mendis. They can also slot Mendis to open the innings, with one of Sudharsan or Gill shifting to No.3 for the clash against the Mumbai Indians (MI).
Mendis boasts a better record at the top, accumulating 3882 runs at an average of 33.75 and a 141.26 strike rate in 123 innings, comprising 29 fifties and two centuries. However, breaking a well-settled opening combination can backfire for the Gujarat Titans, so it will be interesting to see how they plan.
Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Gerald Coetzee, Arshad Khan, Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj
Impact Player: Prasidh Krishna
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