IPL 2017, Match 22, KXIP vs MI: CT Player of the match – Jos Buttler

Mumbai Indians (MI) were coming into this game with four wins behind them and Punjab were equally struggling in terms of form. After two consecutive victories in the first two games, Punjab has lost their way and are currently with only two wins in six games. Today’s loss was even bitter for them as even after scoring 198 in their 20 overs, Mumbai Indians just blew them away.

Major credit for this hammering goes to Jos Buttler who was fantastic from ball one. After a nice bludgeoning of Mumbai bowlers, it was their turn for revenge and they did take their revenge and it was very sweet. Buttler was phenomenal from the word go as he never let the Punjab bowlers settle. Smashing them to all parts of the ground Buttler made this run chase look like a walk in the park and for this innings of his, we have chosen him as our player of the match.

Starts his innings extremely well.

Buttler is known for his wide range of shots but sometimes he overdoes things and becomes his own victim. Today was his day, he was smashing the ball to all parts of the ground with ease and the ones he mistimed were also landing in the stands. The English player made his mark in the first few overs as he dismissed Ishant and Sandeep for quite a few runs. This ensured a good start for Mumbai as they reached the fifty run mark in just four overs.

Scores a scorching half century.

We have seen a number of times that Buttler gets good starts but fails to build on them. But today was different as he continued his innings for a longer period of time and the result was astonishing. The man from England scored a magnificent fifty of just 24 deliveries. Scoring at a strike rate of more than 200, Buttler was absolutely tearing the Punjab attack apart. Even Glenn Maxwell was in awe of this man’s innings.

Kept the required run rate in check.

Jos lost his partner at a crucial time and one or two more wickets would have turned the tide. However, Buttler had other ideas, he did not lose his focus and made sure the required run rate never went out of their hands. The 26-year-old kept on scoring runs at a brisk rate which brought the required run rate down and got some help from the newcomer Nitish Rana as well.

Finally gets a big score in IPL 2017

Buttler underperformed for the first few matches as he could not convert his starts into big scores. He was due for a big performance and he chose this night for it. Amla had already shown how good the pitch was for batting and Buttler just capitalised on the same. He smashed 77 runs from just 37 deliveries hitting 7 boundaries and five sixes of the highest quality. This performance overshadowed Amla’s 104 as he won the game for Mumbai and made a mockery of the run chase.

This fabulous performance from Jos Buttler earns him a rating of 4 out of 5 and makes him our player of the match.