England's Jos Buttler wants to be a part of the IPL
Jos Buttler is hopeful of turning the disappointment of being dropped from the Test side into a blessing in disguise by being picked up in the IPL auctions set to be held on February 6. The 25-year-old said that he is ‘desperate’ to play in the competition and cited the chance of sharing the dressing room with cricketers from around the globe and the monetary benefits as reasons for his new dream.
Buttler rejected the chance to feature in the IPL two seasons back in favour of playing first-class cricket back home in England with Lancashire to whom he had moved recently then from Somerset.
Revealing his change of stance on the IPL two years down the line, Buttler told BBC Radio 5: "I put my name in the auction, and I'm desperate to play in that competition. It's never quite so simple for us English players to get into the IPL, but I've got a window that has opened up, being out of the Test side, and hopefully a side will pick me up."
Buttler is expected to fetch a few suitors with his hard hitting in the shorter formats of the game well documented. He was part of the Lancashire side that won the 2015 Natwest T20 Blast playing crucial knocks of 71 from 35 balls against Yorkshire in a group fixture as well as a 37-ball 53 in the quarter-final against Kent.
He also holds the record of scoring the two fastest hundreds for England in ODI cricket, the latest one coming against Pakistan in Dubai last November, when Buttler reached the three-figure mark off just 46 balls.
The wicket-keeper batsman is excited about the prospect of playing in front of the cricket-crazy population in India as well as the opportunity to be in the same dressing room as many of the best players in the world.
"When you look at the money side of things as an English player, it's not quite as good as you think it is," he said. The experience you'll gain playing with the world's best players, where cricket is followed like football is in England - that can only be an amazing experience. To share dressing rooms with some of the best players in the world will improve your game in all three formats."
Speaking about his Test omission following the second Test of the three-match series against Pakistan, Buttler admitted that he had let himself down with his performances in the longer format of the game but vowed to fight for his place in the side.
"Yeah, it looks like that - Jonny’s (Jonny Bairstow) done really well, and it looks like he's cemented his place for a bit," he said. That's fine, that's how it is, life will go on, I'll keep trying hard. We've got these one-dayers to look forward to, the Twenty 20s, and if the chance ever comes again, you want to make sure you're the next cab off the rank."