Jos Buttler will miss Rajasthan Royals’ opening Indian Premier League fixture against Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday as he will be under quarantine with his family in Dubai.
Even though the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reduced the quarantine period to 36 hours for the England and Australia players as they travelled from one bubble to another. However, Buttler - who missed most of England’s limited overs series against Australia due to family commitments - travelled separately with his family and as a result, he will have to be under the mandatory six-day quarantine before he is allowed to play a match. The England star confirmed the development on Sunday.
He was also hopeful that Ben Stokes - who is currently in England with his ailing father - will be joining the team in the later part of the tournament.
In an interaction with the fans on the franchise’s Instagram page, Buttler hoped that both Steve Smith and Jofra Archer could be available for the opener against Chennai Super Kings. “Jofra has been bowling seriously fast this summer. It’s been nice watching him brilliantly and fast. Steve is our captain, so I am sure he will have his name on the team sheet,” he said.
The England stumper-batsman also stated that he is looking forward to meeting Yashasvi Jaiswal. “I have not met him yet but I am excited that he has joined the Royals. He has been doing brilliantly well for India U-19, he is such a huge talent. I am looking forward to meeting him and watch him bat. It is always get to see young Indian talents unearth in the IPL. I am glad that he is on the Royals side,” Buttler said.
He was also excited to see Mahendra Singh Dhoni back in action. “I am a huge MS Dhoni fan. Great to see him back. Also, Sanju Samson, I am a big fan of his batting. He has been in the IPL for a long time. He makes the game look easy when he is in form. Look forward to watching him score lot of runs for Rajasthan Royals,” he said. While he agreed that all the opponents are tough in the IPL, Mumbai and Chennai have been in good form for the last couple of seasons.
In the opening fixture, Chennai’s Sam Curran played a quickfire knock to help the side beat Mumbai Indians. Sam’s elder brother Tom is part of Royals this seasons, and talking about that, Buttler joked: “I was telling Tom that he has to hit more sixes for Royals than Sam does for Chennai…”
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