IPL 2018: Jos Buttler 'opens' up Rajasthan Royals' fortunes

Jos Buttler has scored 509 runs in 12 matches of this IPL season so far. Of these, 389 have come in his last five innings. His other seven outings accounted for just 120 runs.

That voluminous difference in the numbers speaks volumes of the difference between Buttler, the opening batsman and Buttler, the middle-order batsman.

Despite doing a great job for Mumbai Indians (MI) as an opener in the 2017 season, the Englishman's new franchise, Rajasthan Royals (RR), pushed him down in the batting order for the first half of this edition.

Buttler registered four scores in the 20s out of those seven innings, indicating that he was in good touch but wasn't getting to face enough balls to be the impact player that he is known to be, a fact that was reflected in RR's poor string of results.

A rain-shortened chase of 151 in 12 overs in a crucial tie against Delhi Daredevils meant RR had to go for broke at the onset, a scenario that prompted their think-tank to send Buttler first up with D'Arcy Short in the quest for quick runs.

Like a loyal employee coming back to his old company after quitting it briefly, opener Buttler bludgeoned a 26-ball 67 in a quality display of Power Play hitting. And although RR lost the match narrowly, they handed back their star his best spot to shine bright.

And boy, hasn't he shone since! Backing that knock up with four more half-centuries, the last two being unbeaten 90s in winning causes to keep his team alive in the play-offs race.

Opening the batting has given Buttler the opportunity to cash in on the hard new ball and the restricted field settings. And even if he doesn't, he can always play catch up and win that game too.

Against MI on Sunday, Buttler scored only 18 off 15 balls in Power Play. But he ran hard with his skipper Ajinkya Rahane in the next few overs and then brought out his audacious boundary-hitting skills after 10 overs to finish with an unbeaten 94 off 53 balls.

"I've spent a lot of time batting in the middle order, so if I can bat through the first six overs, I can tie the two together. I try to be there till the end," Buttler said after the game on Sunday.

Five games ago, RR were struggling to find someone who could give them a blazing start and someone to bat through with the others chipping in.

With one move of opening with Buttler, RR have solved two puzzles. "It (promoting Buttler) was a collective decision of the captain, (head of cricket) Zubin (Bharucha), (mentor) Shane (Warne) and (batting coach) Amol (Muzumdar)," RR pacer Dhawal Kulkarni said on Sunday. "It's going well for us, and I hope he continues to be in that form for us."

With momentum we have, we can beat KKR: Dhawal Kulkarni

RR will look to carry the winning momentum against KKR in their next IPL fixture and inch closer to the play-offs berth, said RR seamer Dhawal Kulkarni. “All the games are crucial for us. Maybe, in the next game we’ve got a good chance to beat Kolkata Knight Riders. With the momentum that we’ve got, I’m sure we’ll be able to do that, said Kulkarni on Sunday night.