Big-hitting Jos Buttler's place in IPL hat is of little concern as duty calls for England

JOS BUTTLER will be concentrating solely on his day job this weekend '“ even though a six-figure Indian Premier League windfall could be his by close of play.
England's Jos Buttler celebrates hitting a century at Bloemfontein against South Africa on Wednesday. Picture: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe.England's Jos Buttler celebrates hitting a century at Bloemfontein against South Africa on Wednesday. Picture: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe.
England's Jos Buttler celebrates hitting a century at Bloemfontein against South Africa on Wednesday. Picture: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe.

England’s match-winning wicketkeeper-batsman is out to cash in on his rich one-day international form after hitting a second successive hundred as the tourists went 1-0 up on South Africa in Bloemfontein.

The IPL loot, if there is to be any after he entered the annual auction with England’s blessing and a base price of around £180,000, can wait until he has given his all again out in the middle at Port Elizabeth’s St George’s Park tomorrow.

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With his fourth ODI hundred under his belt, Buttler may find he is a choice cut that stirs up plenty of big-money interest when the bidding gets under way in Bangalore. He is likely to be playing when he hears how much he is worth, but Buttler insists it will be no distraction from his national duty.

“I’ll just be focused on playing for England – what happens away from that is outside my control,” said Buttler.

“It’s quite a strange feeling. You put yourself in the hat and you see what happens. I could be sat on my sofa in April.

“But I’ll just be trying to build on what’s happened (in the first match) and looking forward to what should be a fantastic series.

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“South Africa are a fantastic side and will come back hard against us.”

Buttler has made two roaring successes of promotion up the order to No 4 in his last two ODI innings - beating his own national record for the fastest England hundred against Pakistan in Dubai back in November, and duly adding another century this week.

Buttler has demonstrated an evident liking for fourth spot in the batting order, although he is not about to claim it as his own, whatever the match situation.

“When you get the promotion, you feel the expectation,” he added.

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“You’ve been put up the order to continue the momentum of the guys who started it.

“The great thing for our side is that we have flexibility. It might be we need a left-hander, and Stokesy [Ben Stokes] can go in and chance his arm.

“I think that is another strength of the side we are developing.”

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