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Jos Buttler criticizes Ashish Nehra: After two months of cricket thrill, the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 ended a few days ago. The tournament finally concluded after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Gujarat Titans (GT) by 5 wickets to lift their second trophy. They successfully defended their trophy and became the third team to do so after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI).
In the final, Gujarat Titans lost the wickets of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan early after being invited to bat first. As per the order, Jos Buttler was to be sent at number 3, but a surprising move was taken by the GT management as they sent Nishant Sindhu at number 3 in place of Buttler.
Nishant Sindhu strikes back for GT
The move proved costly for the Titans as the southpaw did not fare well in the final and was out after scoring 20 runs off 18 balls. Jos Buttler, who batted at No. 3 throughout the season, was sent to No. 4, where he struggled to score runs in the game and was brought back after playing sharp strokes for 19 runs.
Jos Buttler has now given the reason for the decision to promote young player Nishant Sindhu ahead of him in the IPL final. He revealed that it was Titans head coach Ashish Nehra who sent the young batsman ahead of the experienced superstar. It was a gamble that failed.
We are going to send Nishant-Jos Buttler
He said that the surprise promotion of Nishant Sindhu was a strategic decision by head coach Ashish Nehra. The England player admitted that he was about to walk out after Shubman’s early dismissal until he learned that the youngster would be sent off ahead of him.
“When the first wicket fell, I stood up to put my helmet on. But Ashish Nehra said, ‘You sit back, we’re sending Nishant on at 3 o’clock.’ I asked him after the game, and he said it seemed reactive at the time, and it was a good opportunity to get Nishant into the game because he’s a top-order batsman,” Buttler said on the For the Love of Cricket podcast.
He has been slippery at times – Butler on Nishant Sindhu
Jos Buttler believed that the reason behind sending Nishant higher up the order was for a better role in the game, as he did not get a chance to bat much and often found himself pushed down the order in earlier matches or was left with only a few balls to bat.
“He’s sometimes on that slippery slope where the team goes ahead, and he didn’t bat or bat at No. 7. So it was a decision to include him in the game. He batted ahead of me in another game against KKR. Right or wrong, it didn’t work out for us,” he said.
Jos Buttler, since joining the GT team in 2025, has played at No. 3 and is well-equipped for the position. Buttler has scored 538 runs in the 2025 season and the former England captain has scored 526 runs in this season.
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