Ahmedabad: Cricket Australia was Monday trolled for posting an image of charismatic Rajasthan Royals batter Jos Buttler, after the 32-year-old England cricketer emerged the second-highest run-getter ever in a single Indian Premier League (IPL) season, scoring an astronomical 863 runs in 17 games.
Buttler’s exploits were the key reason for Rajasthan Royals making it to the IPL 2022 final, and while he could not guide his side to the title, losing to Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday night, the England cricketer scored 39 off 35 balls, which took him past Australian great David Warner in the list of all-time highest run-getters in IPL in a single season.
Buttler emerged the new No.2 on the list topped by Virat Kohli. The hot-shot England player pushed Warner (848 runs in 2016 for SRH) to third spot in the elite list.
Cricket Australia posted an image of Buttler along with the top-five run-getters in a single IPL season, and wrote, “With four centuries in the tournament, Jos Buttler was unstoppable in #IPL2022! But he couldn’t quite get Virat Kohli’s record…”
Virat’s mountain of runs in 2016 — 973 in 16 innings in 2016 for RCB — continues to be the highest by a batter in an IPL season, and Buttler (863 runs in 17 games) missed it by a big margin.
While two Australians — David Warner (848 in 17 innings, 2016) and Mike Hussey (733 in 17 innings, 2013) — also figure on the Top-5 list, people were quick to point out why Cricket Australia was highlighting the achievements of an England cricketer and a league that is played in India.
“Surprising why you guys are giving update because neither ipl nor jos buttler is Australian,” wrote a fan on @cricketcomau, Cricket Australia’s social media wing.
However, Cricket Australia came up with a perfect reply, saying, “we love cricket.”
