Jos Buttler ill feature in his 11th successive season of the Indian Premier League, and despite being one of the most sought-after T20 player in franchise cricket, the English batter seemed to have found a perfect mantra for work-life balance.
Apart from T20 franchise cricket, Buttler still remains one of England’s finest white-ball wicket-keeper batter. Buttler says he tries to live in the present and prioritise accordingly.
“I am just trying to be very present with my stuff and just be where my feet are. Look at what’s in front of me and play accordingly. Obviously, the IPL is the thing right now,” Buttler told PTI, who would be playing in his second season for Gujarat Titans.
For Buttler, it has become easy to manage his international calendar because he plays only white-ball cricket.
“After a period of time, you reflect and say, okay, where am I at with my career? What’s important to me? Obviously, I only play white-ball cricket for England. So I have a calendar now that I feel I can manage relatively well,” said Buttler.
“Alongside the franchise stuff, there are things I’ve turned down to spend time at home because that’s very important to me. I need to maintain energy, relationships and that kind of thing,” the former England skipper also said.
Buttler feels there are too many T20 leagues happening around the world, and he thinks the “onus is also on the players, to be honest, to be disciplined enough to sometimes say no to something.”
“It is very easy. There’s so much cricket, there’s so much opportunity. I think, as a player, you need to be at the top of your game when you go and give yourself to your team, whether that’s international or franchise.
“So making sure you have enough energy for everything that you’re doing. And that will be independent and individual to certain players.”
Buttler believes that for an international player, managing the outside noise is crucial. After leading England to T20 World Cup glory in 2022, he had a horrid 2026 edition with the bat, where he returned just 87 runs in eight games.
“Obviously, you need to be playing well technically and mentally. You need to be in a good space with the cricket and work on things. But actually, one of the biggest challenges is dealing with the outside noise.
“And also your own expectations and your own comparisons against what you believe you’re capable of. That’s always the challenge – not allowing that to overshadow playing the game and being free, and having the freedom to walk out there with your bat and look to score runs.
“I’ve been playing for a long time now. There have been different times in my career when you’re actually learning the same lesson over and over again,” Buttler said.
Buttler continued and added: “And it’s a world now where there are more eyes on the game than ever before. There’s more opinion. So you just have to insulate yourself from that.”
For insulation, one needs a trustworthy circle of people around oneself.
“You have a tight-knit circle of people that you trust, take advice from and ask for advice from. Outside of that, it’s just trying to quieten the noise and play.”
