Jos Buttler is regarded by many as the best white-ball batter in the cricket world right now. The England batter had a memorable IPL 2022 season, where he won the Orange Cap for scoring the most number of runs. Then, he destroyed the Netherlands cricket team in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup Super League series.
While Buttler has been doing well in ODI and T20 cricket, he has not been a part of the Test team. With Brendon McCullum taking over as the head coach of the England Test cricket team, the team has played more aggressive cricket than ever.
Kumar Sangakkara, who worked with Jos Buttler during his time at the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2022, said that the England team management should think of trying Buttler as an opener in the longest format of the game.
“I’d really look at him to open the innings in Test cricket. We’ve always talked about him batting at seven, batting with the tail. We’ve seen Sehwag, Hayden, all of them opening the innings – why not Buttler?” said Kumar Sangakkara during commentary on Sky Sports.
Has Jos Buttler opened the innings for England in Test cricket?
The England openers have not had the best time in the longest format of the game. The English team has tried multiple combinations, but they have been inconsistent. Hence, Kumar Sangakkara popped up Buttler’s name in the discussion.
Buttler has opened only twice in his Test career before, and he scored a total of four runs in those two innings. Opening in red-ball matches is quite different and challenging compared to white-ball matches, which is why the experiment may not be successful.
However, since Buttler is in tremendous form, the English team management should think of trying him out once in the red-ball format as well.
