Swiss tennis star Roger Federer is someone who inspires Rajasthan Royals marquee player Jos Buttler to put in the hard yards in all walks of life with grace and style. The Englishman is also awed by how the tennis legend is still able to remain in the mix of the heat, even after entering the late thirties.
“Federer is someone whose journey inspires me a lot. He has always been sort of a huge talent as a kid, always talked about that he was going to be a great of the game,” Buttler was said in a Q/A video uploaded by the Royals on their official Twitter handle.
“But then to go on to show the desire the consistency and longevity are just amazing. Doing it all at 38 with the huge amount of grace and style that he does is just inspirational,” added the Somerset player.
Buttler, 30, was also asked that among the current lot of international players which one would make it to the English team without any hurdle. Answering that he chose Australia vice-captain in Tests, Pat Cummins. “Pat Cummins would fit automatically into the English side. I would like to see him operating with Jofra Archer for England. That would be a deadly combination," said Buttler.
Buttler, who has played 58 IPL games, scoring 1714 runs at more than a decent average of 34.97, was also asked to pick one player from the yesteryears whom he would have liked to play with or against. To many people’s surprise, he chose West Indian great Sir Vivian Richards, not only because of his flamboyant nature but because Buttler’s father used to talk a lot about him as the great man too played for Somerset.
“Sir Viv Richards is the one player he wanted to play with. He was my dad’s all-time favourite player. He played for Somerset where I grew up playing and there are so many stories related to him and [Ian] Botham batting together at my home ground. He was always ahead of the game and I think he would have been a great T20 player,” said Buttler.