It’s now official that Jos Buttler’s going back to wicket-keeping in the IPL, even though he gave it up for England. Sanju Samson usually does the job for the Rajasthan Royals, so Buttler wasn’t needed there. But now that the Gujarat Titans shelled out a whopping INR 15.75 crore for him at the IPL 2025 auction, it sounds like he’ll be back behind the stumps. Skipper Shubman Gill confirmed this at a press thing before the tournament.
Yep, Buttler’s our wicket-keeper, Gill told reporters in Ahmedabad. The Titans do have Anuj Rawat and Kumar Kushagra who can keep, but it looks like Buttler’s got the job for now.
Buttler doesn’t keep wickets for England anymore. Guys like Phil Salt and Jamie Smith have taken over since he came back from an injury that kept him out for four months after last year’s T20 World Cup. He wanted to keep his career going, mainly as a batter and hopefully as a leader.
With Buttler keeping, the Titans have room to play Mahipal Lomror or Washington Sundar at No. 6. Both those guys can do a bit of everything, and then you’ve got Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan coming in after them. After struggling last year, the Titans have put together a pretty well-rounded squad. Gill’s got one season of captaincy under his belt, so he should be ready to lead, with experienced players like Buttler, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, and Rashid Khan around.
Gujarat Titans squad: Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudarshan, Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler (wk), Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Sherfane Rutherford, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Nishant Sindhu, Kagiso Rabada, Glenn Phillips, Mahipal Lomror, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Anuj Rawat (wk), Karim Janat, Gerald Coetzee, Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, R Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Kulwant Khejroliya.
