Jos Buttler credits Australian legend for realising his potential to play Test cricket

Jos Buttler is currently one of the most dynamic batsmen in England’s lineup. He employs an unflinching approach while batting and his wicketkeeping skills have also been phenomenal. This year has been stupendous for the 27-year-old cricketer from Somerset. He was drafted in to play for the Rajasthan Royals in the prestigious Indian Premier League and he didn’t let his team down.

He, initially, batted in the middle order, however, came into his own when he was promoted as one of the openers. He racked up runs at a hemorrhaging rate and finished among the leading run-scorers of the tournament. Soon after, he also made a comeback in the squad for England’s Test series against Pakistan. He scored a couple of useful half-centuries to justify his place in the team.

Confidence is the golden egg

He was also selected in the squad for England’s first Test against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham, which starts on August 1. Recently, the swashbuckling player credited Shane Warne, former Australian cricketer and the mentor of the Royals, for injecting confidence in him to play Test cricket. Buttler mentioned the same to Stuart Broad, English cricketer and a columnist in Daily Mail, in an exclusive chat.

“Confidence is the golden egg. At the IPL, Shane Warne at Rajasthan Royals was someone I loved getting to know. He was talking to me about Test cricket and saying, ‘You’re good enough to play it, that should still be your ultimate aim’. So the seed was planted,” Buttler mentioned.

Then for [national selector] Ed Smith to phone me and say, ‘I think you’re good enough to play Test cricket for England and I’m not fussed you haven’t played much red-ball cricket recently’, that gave me a huge amount of confidence,” he added while talking about the manner in which Warne motivated him to ply his trade in the longest format of the sport.

[interaction id=”5b5c546c96df42284bb02239″]

For more news and developments, stay tuned on CricTracker.com.