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Stuart Broad lashed out at the Gujarat Titans' (GT) management for demoting Jos Buttler to No. 4 and sending Nishant Sindhu ahead of him at No. 3 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 final against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday, May 31, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
After Rajat Patidar won the toss and opted to bowl first, GT lost their captain, Shubman Gill, in the third over and surprisingly, it was Sindhu who walked out to the middle to join Sai Sudharsan. Buttler eventually
walked out to bat in the next over, as Sudharsan was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. However, the England legend failed to make a mark, getting dismissed for 19 off 23 balls.
"Buttler batted at 3 throughout the tournament. And then come the final, batting first, he moved down to bat at 4. I can't get my head around why you changed the role in the final. Even AB de Villiers said it was a defensive move," Broad said on For the Love of Cricket YouTube channel.
Another former England pacer, Steven Finn, also expressed his surprise at seeing Buttler not batting at his usual position. Finn said that Buttler has opened the batting a lot for England, and it's not like he isn't used to playing against the new ball. He mentioned that the GT management might have felt the wicket would get better for batting after a few overs, and that is why they held the veteran cricketer back.
"Buttler dropping down was surprising as it's not like he's not exposed to the new ball, having opened so much for England. It does seem slightly curious. The only rationale behind the move was the think tank feeling the pitch was going to get better and have the guy at No.3 to just stay at the crease until the wicket got better for batting, allowing Jos to catch up and do his thing."
"The problems of Gill and Sai each scoring over 700 runs were seen in the final" - Stuart Broad
Broad opined that GT openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, each scoring over 700 runs in the season, turned out to be a problem for the former champions. The middle order didn't get much exposure during the season as the opening duo was taking the bulk of the responsibility of scoring runs. In the final, both openers departed cheaply, and the middle order was found wanting.
"The problems of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan each scoring over 700 runs were seen in the final. When your openers are this consistent, it doesn't give your middle order much exposure under pressure. And when you need them, they might not be able to drag you over the line. Both openers failed today, and immediately, the thought was they were done," said Broad (via the aforementioned source).
GT could only manage 155/8 in their 20 overs. RCB chased the total in 18 overs, with five wickets left to spare. Virat Kohli won the Player of the Match award for his unbeaten 75 off 42 balls.
