England white-ball captain and an IPL legend for the Rajasthan Royals, Jos Buttler, penned an emotional note on Instagram after his journey with the Men in Pink in the IPL came to an end, at least for now. Having spent seven seasons with the franchise Buttler during his extraordinary season of 863 runs in 2022, almost won a trophy single-handedly, a campaign featuring four centuries. Buttler formed an emotional bond with the team and some of the players including skipper Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal and the fans too weren't all happy with the franchise's decision to leave him out.
Buttler in the post wrote that after he joined the Royals in 2018 he had some of his best cricketing years that he will cherish for life. "If it turns out that this is the end, thank you @rajasthanroyals and everyone involved with the franchise for 7 incredible seasons together," Buttler said in the Instagram post.
"2018 kickstarted the best years of my cricketing career and many of my most cherished memories have come in a Pink shirt over the last 6 years. Thank you for welcoming me and my family with open arms. Could write so much more but let’s leave it there," Buttler added.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson reacted to the post with a heartbreak emoji while Rajasthan Royals social media team wrote, "You will be one of the greatest ever to wear Pink. Forever a part of the Royals Family."
Sanju Samson and Rajasthan Royals reaction to Buttler's post
Royals decided to stay with their Indian core with Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep Sharma being their six retentions. Since the Royals have exhausted all their retentions pre-auction, they will have to buy him proper to get his services back.
Buttler in seven seasons for the Royals, scored 3,055 runs in 82 innings, including seven centuries at an average of 41.84 and a strike rate of 147.79. Rajasthan Royals will be gutted with being not able to get their hands on the title in the previous three-year cycle but whatever they did, Buttler had a huge role to play in it.
