Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler left the team on Monday to join the England national side to prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Buttler played 11 matches for the Royals in the ongoing Indian Premier League season. He was key to the side in their strong performances that have left the team poised to make the IPL 2024 playoffs.
The 33-year-old Englishman scored 359 runs at an average of 39.89 and a strike rate of 140.78. His campaign included two centuries, including an unbeaten 107 in what was a then-record IPL run chase against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens last month.
Buttler is currently the third-highest run-scorer for the Royals this season after Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag.
Buttler is the captain of the England cricket team that will be defending its title at the T20 World Cup 2024 to be hosted in the West Indies and USA in June.
The English cricket squad was announced late last month by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which mandated that selected players currently in IPL 2024 should return in time for the series against Pakistan, which starts on May 22.
The England World Cup squad will fly to the Caribbean on May 31 ahead of England’s opening group match against Scotland in Barbados on June 4.
Buttler, thus, will miss the team’s last two league matches, against the Punjab Kings on May 15 and KKR on May 19. He will also be unavailable for the Royals’ stint in the IPL 2024 playoffs, which starts on May 21.
Rajasthan Royals are currently second in the IPL 2024 points table with 16 points from 12 matches.
Buttler was England’s leading run-scorer in their title-winning T20 World Cup 2022 campaign in Australia. He scored 225 runs at an average of 45.00 and a strike rate of 144.23. He managed two fifties during the tournament
