IPL 2026: Jos Buttler opens up on batting number 4 in the final

England and Gujarat Titans’ wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler has revealed the happenings from the IPL final, which saw him demoted to number 4 in the Titans’ batting innings at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

With openers Sai Sudharsan and skipper Shubman Gill, Buttler formed the top three that did the heavy lifting with the bat for the Titans in 2026 season. Despite this, the final saw Nishant Sindhu walking in at 3 over Buttler after the fall of Gill’s wicket early. The decision paid off poorly, with Sindhu scoring an 18-ball 20. Buttler revealed that the decision was made by head coach Ashish Nehra after Gill fell with the score just being 22. 

“Yeah, well the wicket went down. I got up to put my helmet on and Ashish said, ‘Sit back down. We’re going to send Nishant in at three’. And I did ask him after the game. He just said he felt like not reactive at that point. It was a good chance to get Nishant in the game who’s a top order batter, who has sometimes been on that slipper slope. If the team gets going, he’s sort of ended up not batting and batted at seven. So, he felt like it gave him a chance to get in the game,” Buttler said on the ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast.

The final was the second occasion when Sindhu walked in ahead of Buttler in IPL 2026, with the first being their game at the Eden Gardens against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Buttler further spoke of altering his approach, walking in at number 4, trying to take the game deep and pick up boundaries once set. He was dismissed by Krunal Pandya, who had him stumped off a wide yorker. Buttler, who was able to manage just a tardy innings of 19 from 23 balls, praised Pandya for his awareness in the situation to get him out. 

“I feel like I batted at four once before somewhere. Second time, he went ahead of me again at Kolkata. So, it wasn’t the only time that happened. You know, right or wrong, it just didn’t work out for us. I felt like when I was batting, I want to take it a little deep, having lost a few wickets, sort of go run-a-ball for a little bit and then try and pick up those boundaries and get going. And I just never got the boundaries. And I got done really by a good piece of bowling. He’s a smart operator, Krunal Pandya. He saw me coming through. That wide fast yorker and I was stumped,” said the English wicketkeeper-batter,” Buttler stated.

Buttler expressed his disappointment with his knock in the final and stated that they could have reached a score of around 180, which could have proved competitive. They were just able to manage 155 for 8, which the defending champions RCB chased down courtesy of an unbeaten 75 off 42 from Virat Kohli. 

“Disappointing, you sort of get worse than a run-a-ball in an IPL final. It’s not a great look. I had a plan in my head of how I wanted to play, which I think was the right plan. I just didn’t execute it. I think if we could have got up to 180, it would’ve been a really good score,” Buttler further added.

Despite the poor run in the final, Buttler had a brilliant season, scoring 526 runs at a strike rate of 152.46. Signed by the Titans ahead of the 2025 season, the Englishman has scored over 500 runs in both seasons he has played for the Titans.