New Delhi: Gujarat Titans’ batting line-up are good enough to cover the absence of Jos Buttler during the IPL 2025 play-offs insists assistant coach Matthew Wade
Powered by the awesome form of their top-order trio of Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, and Buttler, Gujarat have qualified for the play-offs and are on top of the standings with 18 points in 12 matches.
But they will have to play without Buttler in the knockout stage as the England cricketer wll go back for national duty after their final league stage match against Chennai Super Kings on May 25.
“It certainly doesn’t worry us, we know that those guys are in terrific form when they’ve got the opportunity and that they’ll do a great job for us,” Wade said at a pre-match media interaction.
“It’d be nice if the top three keeps scoring the majority of the runs. We’re going to lose Jos after a few more games so there’s going to be another opportunity for someone to come in at three and take that role over.
“But I’m really confident that those guys, when they get their opportunity, they’ll make a big impact in the games like they have when they’ve been needed over the last six or eight weeks.”
Wade felt Buttler’s absence would be a great opportunity to make a mark and said they are trying to provide sufficient preparation for their middle-orders batters though it is diffiult to replicate match situations at the nets.
“The positive thing is the middle order — Sherfane (Rutherford) and Shahrukh (Khan), guys like that, (Rahul) Tewatia — they’ve had good impact in games when they’ve got the opportunity, they just haven’t got a lot of game time over the last few weeks.
GT take on Lucknow Super Giants, a team that are out of the play-offs contention, in their next game.
“I think sometimes when teams’ seasons are over they almost become a little bit more dangerous, they tend to free up a little bit and they’ve got an opportunity to finish their tournaments really strongly as well,” he said, speaking of LSG.
GT have to play without Jos Buttler in the knockout stage as the England cricketer wll go back for national duty after their final league stage match against Chennai Super Kings on May 25. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
