IPL 2018: Familiarity with Wankhede track helped me score against MI, says Jos Buttler

Buttler played for Mumbai Indians in 2016 and 2017, has been in tremendous form scoring five consecutive half centuries this season.

Mumbai: Brimming with confidence after smashing his fifth successive half-century, in-form Jos Buttler said familiarity of the Wankhede track helped him score runs as Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven wickets to keep play-off holes alive. Buttler’s unbeaten 94 helped Rajasthan defeat defending champions Mumbai Indians with two overs to spare keeping them firmly in contention of reaching the Play-offs.

“Nice to come back here, I enjoyed my time at Mumbai and it properly helped to know the conditions. The familiarity of the ground and the wicket helped me today. I’m in a good head-space and looking forward to the next game,” Buttler said at the post-match presentation ceremony  Buttler, who played for Mumbai Indians in 2016 and 2017, has been in tremendous form scoring five consecutive half centuries, including unbeaten knocks of 94 and 95 in the previous two games against Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings respectively. He also scored 82 against Kings XI Punjab.

“I’m really enjoying it, found some good form, it’s a do-or-die situation and I’m full of confidence so want to keep it going,” the English batsman said.

The swashbuckling batsman is hoping his experience in the middle order will help him bat through the innings scoring more runs. “I’ve spent a lot of time batting in the middle order, so if I can bat through the first six overs I can tie the two together. I try to be there till the end,” Buttler said.

Losing team captain Rohit Sharma also complimented Buttler for his match-winning knock and said his team needs to come up with a plan to win the next two matches.

“Jos Buttler has been in great form, he didn’t give us any chances, but we bowled very well. We should have got 15-20 more, but I don’t want to be too harsh, we have played some good cricket. Innings like this can happen, we just have to keep our heads up, ” Sharma said.

“We need to see how we can come back in the next two games,” he added.