GT vs MI | Twitter in splits as Buttler double takes to smack Raju's absurd loopy delivery

Last Saturday at 9:21 PM

The evolution of hitting in T20 cricket has forced bowlers to ask themselves how slow is slow enough for a variation, their speeds often dipping to the 80ks in search for respite. Satyanarayan Raju took things a step further on Saturday with an extreme slower one that Jos Buttler dealt with well.

‌Gujarat Titans got off to a roaring start in their second home of IPL 2025 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan racked up 66 runs in the powerplay without any loss. However, the introduction of Hardik Pandya and Mitchell Santner into the attack significantly slowed down momentum and culminated in the former scalping Gill, bringing Jos Buttler to the crease in the ninth over. The Englishman had to bear the brunt of scoring as Sudharsan continued to struggle for boundaries at the other end, so much so that Jos had to pull out the extraordinary to keep Satyanarayan Raju from deceiving him with a unique albeit inadvertent variation.

Buttler had already raced to 26 off 17 deliveries when he came on strike against Raju on the second ball of the 13th over. The rookie pacer immediately opted for a back-of-the-hand slower bouncer but to his misfortune, the execution went horribly wrong. The Kookaburra got stuck in Raju's fingers, meaning they left the hand too late and looped up in the air before bouncing on the deck and springing up once again. Buttler, who had been shaping up to hit through the offside after creating room, was about to swing his bat when he realized the situation at hand and had to visibly wait on his shot with his eyes fixed on the ball. When it eventually did arrive at head height, a small hop and a wild heave saw Buttler pierce the gap between long leg and square leg to earn a well-earned four.

Despite the error, Raju remained diffident in his approach as he stared down Buttler knowing the veteran nearly dragged his shot straight to the fielder in the deep, but all Twitterati cared about was the absolute hilarity of the manner in which the delivery came to be.

What was that?

A CRAZY SHOT BY JOS BUTTLER 🤯#GTvsMI | #IPL2025 | #HardikPandya | #ShubmanGill @mipaltan | @gujarat_titans | pic.twitter.com/XNbIo4PYum
— Mohammad Saif (@MohammadSaif08) March 29, 2025