3 reasons why Jos Buttler's absence is a major blow to RR's IPL 2024 campaign

Jos Buttler left the Rajasthan Royals (RR) ahead of the final two weeks of IPL 2024. The England T20I skipper has returned to the United Kingdom to gear up for his country's upcoming series against Pakistan.

Over the last six years, Jos Buttler has been one of the top match-winners for the Rajasthan Royals. He played a major role in the team's journey to the final in IPL 2022. RR fans would have expected him to guide the franchise to another final in IPL 2024, but he has left India.

The England wicketkeeper missed the match against Punjab Kings last night in Guwahati. In his absence, Tom Kohler-Cadmore made his debut for the Rajasthan Royals, but he could not match Buttler's performances. Playing his first match, Tom managed just 18 runs at a strike rate of less than 100 while opening the batting for Rajasthan.

In this listicle, we will look at the three reasons why Jos Buttler's absence is a major blow to the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024.

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#1 Jos Buttler knows how to handle the pressure of the playoffs

Buttler is a former IPL champion. He is also an ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup-winning player. When the playoffs arrive, the team needs such players who can deal with the pressure of the big stage and bring their 'A' game to the table.

Two years ago, Buttler helped the Rajasthan Royals qualify for the final by scoring a hundred in the Qualifier 2 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Narendra Modi Stadium. This year's Qualifier 1 and Eliminator matches will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium as well.

Since RR will play at least one of those two games, they will miss Buttler dearly in that high-stakes contest.

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#2 Jos Buttler has destroyed Kolkata Knight Riders once in IPL 2024

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals are the top two teams in the IPL 2024 points table right now. If things don't change in the standings till the end of the league round, these two teams will play in the Qualifier 1 match at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

When KKR hosted RR for a league match at the Eden Gardens earlier this year, Buttler fought like a lone warrior and smashed a century to help his team pull off the highest successful run-chase in IPL matches played at the Eden Gardens. KKR bowlers would have been under pressure if they had to face Buttler again in the playoffs.

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#3 Tom Kohler-Cadmore does not have much experience of playing in India

In the last match against Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals tried out Tom Kohler-Cadmore as a replacement for Buttler. However, the experiment failed because Tom hasn't played many matches in Indian conditions before.

Although Tom has the experience of playing in multiple T20 franchise leagues across the world, he must have understood last night that the competition in IPL is at a whole different level. It will be extremely difficult for a new player like Tom to fill in Buttler's shoes when the playoffs arrive.