'It's wrong to say Jos Buttler is the best white-ball cricketer England have had': Rohan Gavaskar refuses to rank the wicketkeeper-batsman
Former Indian cricketer Rohan Gavaskar has stated that there were many great players who played for England, especially in the 70s and 80s. He, therefore, believes that it is not right to rank wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler as the greatest white-ball cricketer produced by the country.
Jos Buttler opened the innings against Australia in the recently-concluded T20I series. In the two T20s that he played, he scored a brilliant 44 and an unbeaten 77 to help England win the series.
England pacer Stuart Broad hailed him as England's greatest white-ball cricketer after his innings in the second T20I.
However, Rohan Gavaskar is of the opinion that Jos Buttler still has a long way to go to achieve that tag even though he is a world-class player. Speaking to Hindustan Times, he said:
“We tend to sort give these greatest of all time tags quite often, Messi is the GOAT, Pele is the GOAT, Maradona is the GOAT. I think it’s wrong to put someone and say he’s (Buttler) the best white-ball cricketer they’ve had. There have been some fantastic cricketers that England have produced even in the 70s and 80s."
He continued:
"He’s a quality player, there’s no doubt about it but to rank him? I don’t like doing that. You should just sit back and enjoy whatever he’s doing on the cricket field, enjoy his skills, enjoy his strokes, enjoy the entertainment that he gives us.”
Rohan Gavaskar compares Jos Buttler's longevity with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Aaron Finch, David Warner
Rohan Gavaskar believes that although Jos Buttler is a top-quality player, he still has to go some distance to reach the level of the likes of Rohit Sharma, David Warner and Aaron Finch. These players have opened for a long time and have remained consistent while Jos Buttler's career as an opener is still very young. He said:
“If you look at someone like Warner, Rohit, or even Finch, they’ve unbelievable numbers. And Buttler will be up there but these guys have been doing it for a lot longer at the top of the order. Buttler has just started to open. This is not to take anything away from him, I think he’s a fantastic cricketer.”
Only time will tell whether Jos Buttler will be able to sustain his brilliant form in T20Is at the top of the order.