"Hettie would sit with his shirt off" - Jos Buttler's cheeky statement on RR star while discussing franchise's use of data in IPL

England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler revealed how IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) make use of data. He cheekily provided an example of how the team utilized Shimron Hetmyer to illustrate the same point.

Jos Buttler was a part of RR from 2018 to 2024. Hetmyer played for the franchise alongside Buttler from 2022 to 2024. Notably, Hetmyer remains with RR, while the English star has moved to the Gujarat Titans (GT) for the 2025 season.

Talking on the 'For The Love Of Cricket' podcast, Jos Buttler revealed that Rajasthan relied more on data as a franchise. They used Hetmyer predominantly only after the tenth or 12th over, according to the data.

"I played for Rajasthan Royals and they hung on data pretty much. It was like the data tells us that Shimron Hetmyer was a fantastic player and his entry point is like from the 10th or 12th over onwards and I am like he's amazing get him in earlier. Hettie would sit in the dressing room with his shirt off like I'm not needed till the 12th over. And I'd say I want you in earlier because if he could get 40 he might get 80. But that was the way. Whether it is right or wrong doesn't matter and we all buy into this," he recalled. (39:14)

While Jos Buttler was with RR last in 2024, Hetmyer scored 113 runs from nine innings, averaging 22.60 with a strike-rate of 163.76. In the same edition, Buttler scored 359 runs from 11 innings, striking at 140.78 with two hundreds.

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Jos Buttler remarks on MS Dhoni's captaincy during discussion about use of data in cricket

In the same conversation, Jos Buttler discussed match-ups created using data. While match-ups are a common term in modern-day cricket, the Englishman believes that it has existed before as well. He used MS Dhoni's captaincy as an example.

"Match-ups is the word everyone says on commentary. It is the modern thing. But back in the day people just called that cricket knowledge. I think Dhoni was doing match-ups a while ago back in the day. It's just like game intuition, like lets bowl an off-spinner to the left-hander. Data isn't just numbers. Data can be experiences. It can be quantified in many ways," he said. (36:50)

Commenting further on Dhoni, Jos Buttler notes that the former Indian captain possesses a wealth of knowledge and data himself. He feels Dhoni is an example of collaboration (use of data) with conviction.

Notably, the former Indian cricketer is among the most successful captains in the sport. India won three ICC trophies under his leadership. Dhoni has also led the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to five IPL titles.