IPL 2018 stint key to my success for England vs Pakistan: Jos Buttler

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Jos Buttler, whose return to the England cricket team’s Test side was a source of surprise for many, believes his success on comeback is down to his run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018.

Butltler stated that playing in front of the large Indian crowds gave him plenty of confidence and also played a part in his direct approach in the Tests vs Pakistan.“Those couple of weeks in the IPL gave me huge amounts of confidence,” Buttler said according to a PTI report.“To be in those pressure situations in India, playing in front of crowds, the pressure of being an overseas player. That showed me a lot about where I was at and where I can get to, so that gave me a lot of confidence.“For me, not trying to worry about the colour of the ball definitely helps. Having put in good performances elsewhere and not putting as much pressure on myself.”Buttler scored 67 in the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s and then made an unbeaten 80 in Leeds that was key in England’s eventual win of the second Test that helped them draw the series.He was a surprise selection for the series against Pakistan, having not made a first-class century since January 2014.

With 20 Tests under his belt, the 27-year-old believes he is in a better place mentally to cope with the demands of five-days cricket.“Now my mentality is quite similar to my first few Tests. I’m not worrying about external factors. I’m just trying to play the game and trusting myself.“In T20 there’s generally another game soon after, so you know you’ve got another opportunity coming up. You probably just move on if you fail. But in Test cricket, if you get out early, you have a long time to think about it.”Being dropped from the squad, he felt, was a blessing in disguise.“I started to think too much about how to not get out, as opposed to ow to score runs. I got in a really bad rut that I just couldn’t get out of. The only real way to get out of it was to be dropped. And actually, being dropped released a lot of pressure.“It wasn’t very long after that that I made an ODI hundred in Dubai, which was a turnaround for me after a long and hard six months.”

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