From an impact batsman Jos Buttler needs to convert himself into a reliable and threatening batsman. When I say threatening, I mean taking full responsibility of England’s batting when he comes into bat(irrespective who his batting partner is).
His opponents should be worried about him. The likes of Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and now Ben Stokes all are a worrying factor for their opponents. These batsman can bat long, deep and score quickly when wanted.
Teams should be thinking “they still have Buttler” who can damage big time, not just quick 50 or even 100.
Potentially Buttler can be included purely as a batsman, but his primary role-play in this England XI is to keep wickets. Hence would be interesting to see how he manages to fulfil his dual role.
On day one of 3rd Test match, one noticed constrained batting from Buttler. He was leaving a lot of balls that were not in line with his range. The weather condition was not totally conducive to batting, neither it was for bowling, nevertheless he was given an opportunity when England were in trouble. He came into bat just before tea and was there at end of day’s play.
For England he and Ben Stokes are true match winner, they have ability to change the game in a session, and one feels he wants to be that batsman. The last session usually yields runs, but instead restricted himself.
It would be interesting to see how he composes himself on day 2. The second new ball is only 3 overs old, and Buttler now has batted for more than 2 hours, which he has done only twice as a designated keeper when England bat first!.
He needs to convert his true potential into performance. He needs to start over again, and constrain himself to play a long innings.
As a designated keeper( of 40th inn) this is second time Buttler is batting for more than 2 hours when England bats first!.
Buttler has been involved in 26 x 50 plus partnerships of which 25 were involved with lower order batsmen. In this test match he and Ollie Pope have put 136 Runs for 5th wkt and in Chris Woakes, Don Bess and Jofra Archer they have decent tail that can wag till they reach 400 score.
All data updated at end of 2nd Test, The Wisden Trophy 2020
