Jos Buttler receives MS Dhoni's jersey from 200th IPL game
Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler scored a match-winning unbeaten 70 on Monday evening on a tricky Abu Dhabi track to help his team to a crucial seven-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings. He was adjudged as the Man of the Match, his first such award this tournament. Yet there was a different reason why for an elated Buttler the game will forever remain memorable.
After the game, Buttler was handed the prized possession of MS Dhoni's CSK jersey from his 200th IPL game. Rajasthan Royals later shared the picture on Twitter with the caption, "Holding No. 7, while on cloud 9."
Earlier in May this year, during an interview with Warren Hegg, Buttler had hailed Dhoni for his ability to stay calm under pressure while also admitted that the veteran Indian has always been his idol.
“MS Dhoni has always been a big idol of mine and chaos is always going around him, people wanting a bit of him, the cricket and the noise. It is such a great lesson to just watch him and see first hand how to manage all that thing if you have to perform at the top level and perform in those crunch moment, that certainly has been one of the massive pluses,” Buttler had said.
Well, he certainly did show traits from those during the Royals' chase to 127. They were down to 28 for three inside the fifth over with Steve Smith and Buttler the last standing batters for Rajasthan at the crease. The pair dug deep with Buttler taking the responsibility to hit boundaries as the two stitched 98 runs to guide the Royals to a seven-wicket win with 15 balls to spare.
The win helped Rajasthan climb to the fifth spot with their fourth win this season while CSK sunk to the bottom end with their seventh defeat in nine games.
