After a painful slump, Jos Buttler has rediscovered his form in T20 cricket, achieving his 100th fifty and driving Gujarat Titans' resurgence in IPL 2026.
Key Points
- Jos Buttler struggled during the 2026 T20 World Cup but has since regained his form in IPL 2026.
- Buttler achieved his 100th T20 fifty, joining Virat Kohli and David Warner in reaching this milestone.
- He also surpassed 14,000 T20 runs, becoming the third-fastest player to reach this milestone.
- Buttler worked with Matthew Hayden to address technical issues and improve his ball-tracking ability.
- Buttler's return to form has contributed to Gujarat Titans' resurgence in IPL 2026.
Two fifties. Two wins. The vintage Jos Buttler is back.
Jos Buttler's 2026 T20 World Cup was painful to watch. For someone who's built a career on destroying bowling attacks and finishing games with ridiculous ease, the numbers were brutal: 87 runs in eight innings with a strike rate of 116.00.
England made it to the semi-final but their former skipper Buttler barely showed up.
For a player of his class, it wasn't just a slump -- it felt like a crisis. The timing was off. The ball looked like a blur. And with every dismissal, the weight got heavier.
Finding His Way Back
The 35-year-old Buttler started IPL 2026 quietly. A 33-ball 38 against Punjab Kings -- solid, nothing special. A quick 14-ball 26 against Rajasthan Royals -- intent was there but not the explosion everyone expected.
Then something clicked.
Against Delhi Capitals, he struck 52 off 27 balls. Not just a fifty -- a statement. The timing was back. The old Buttler swagger had returned.
He backed it up with a 23-ball fifty against Lucknow Super Giants, finishing with 60 off 37 balls as Gujarat Titans chased down the target with ease.
The numbers are incredible -- about 80 percent of his runs come on the off side, showing his mastery of timing, placement, and finding gaps.
Slowly but surely, Buttler was getting back to his very best. And Gujarat? They were suddenly ruling away matches like they owned the place.
Buttler's Milestone: 100 T20 Fifties
The knock against LSG wasn't just another fifty. It was his 100th in T20 cricket.
Only three batters have ever reached that mark: Virat Kohli, David Warner, and now Jos Buttler. It's a ridiculous achievement -- 100 fifties across leagues, formats, countries, conditions. The kind of consistency that defines greatness.
Also during the same innings he crossed 14,000 runs in T20 cricket, becoming only the fifth player ever to get there -- alongside legends like Chris Gayle, David Warner, Kieron Pollard and Alex Hales.
And remarkably, Buttler is the third-fastest ever to reach that milestone.
Innings to 14,000 T20 Runs:
Chris Gayle – 423 innings
David Warner – 431 innings
Jos Buttler – 468 innings
Alex Hales – 505 innings
Kieron Pollard – 633 innings
But Buttler's eyes weren't on the scoreboard or the record books.
They were on his two-year-old son Charlie.
The celebration wasn't for the milestone. It wasn't for the stats. It was for the little boy watching from the stands -- the one who doesn't care about records, who just knows his dad hit the ball and everyone's cheering.
His instinct wasn't to pump his fist or acknowledge the crowd. It was to find Charlie and share the moment with him.
When he was asked if he was a 'numbers man', Buttler just smiled.
'No. Someone just told me a couple of numbers. I've been around for a while. And yeah, nice to be back scoring runs.'
That's Buttler. He doesn't care about the records.
So what pulled him out of the spiral?
Buttler admitted the problem was fundamental: He couldn't pick the ball properly. And if you can't see the ball, cricket becomes almost impossible -- no matter how talented you are.
'I had a bit of a lean patch in the last few months,' he said. 'So nice to find some form and contribute to another win.';
The breakthrough came from stepping back.
'Actually had a little bit of space from the game and time to just kind of think. And it sort of just came to me.'
That mental break was everything. It gave him room to reset, to stop overthinking, to remember who he was as a batter.
Then came the hard work. Buttler spent weeks with Gujarat Titans Batting Coach Matthew Hayden, stripping everything back to basics -- his setup, his stance, his pre-delivery routine.
'I've just been focusing a lot in the weeks I've been here on my setup and my basics. I think a few technical issues maybe crept into my game, which actually allowed me not really seeing the ball that well. So it's a hard game if you're not picking up the ball well.'
Hayden's intervention was simple but brilliant.
'He just asked, actually one of the first few sessions, "How well are you watching the ball? It doesn't look like you're tracking it that well".'
That one question changed everything.
It wasn't fancy drills or complicated tactics. It was just: Are you watching the ball?
And once Buttler fixed that, everything else fell into place.
GT's Quiet Resurgence
Gujarat Titans are currently fifth on the table with two wins and two losses. Not exactly title-contending form yet but with Buttler finding rhythm, they're starting to look dangerous.
His numbers in IPL 2026 so far: 176 runs in four matches and a strike rate over 158, with two fifties.
The vintage Buttler is back in form. Gujarat Titans are winning again.
© 2026