Jos Buttler
Rajasthan Royals' star batsman Jos Buttler has returned to the nets for the ongoing IPL 2020 season ahead of the team's second game, against Kings XI Punjab in Sharjah on September 27.
Buttler had missed the opener as he had arrived in the UAE with his family and was hence taking quarantine measures.
Despite Buttler's absence, Rajasthan made a stunning start to their IPL 2020 campaign as they defeated Chennai Super Kings in their opener in Sharjah.
The pair of Sanju Samson and captain Steve Smith stitched a fiery 121-run stand against Chennai in 56 deliveries. Samson scored the joint-fastest IPL fifty on UAE soil en route to his 32-ball 74 while Smith amassed 69 runs off 47 balls. Jofra Archer too joined the scoring charts with his blitzkrieg cameo of eight-ball 27 as Rajasthan amassed 216 for seven.
In reply, Chennai failed to catch up to the required run rate at any point in the game. Quick dismissals left an experienced Faf du Plessis with a majority of the work to complete and was only joined by skipper MS Dhoni at No.7, a move that was criticised by many veteran cricketer. Dhoni did hit three consecutive sixes, but all after Chennai shifted miles away from the target and a win seemed virtually impossible.
