Ravichandran Ashwin and Jos Buttler were teammates for Rajasthan Royals for three years, but before that, the two gained notoriety when Ashwin had ‘mankad’ Buttler in a match during IPL 2019.
Both players were also involved in one of the most contentious incidents that occurred throughout the IPL. The story begins in 2019, when Ashwin played for Kings XI Punjab (now known as Punjab Kings), and Buttler was a member of the Rajasthan Royals.
Buttler was then batting at 69 off 43 balls, looking comfortable in the 185-run chase. However, what happened next sparked a big debate about the “spirit of cricket” when Ashwin elected to run out Buttler at the non-striker’s end without bowling a ball.
The England cricketer had an uncomfortable exchange as several members of the cricket fraternity weighed in on the matter.
The Royals then signed Ashwin and he was seen playing with Buttler, but both players would be in different dugouts come the new season.
“Banda bahut acha hain par crease ke bahar jata hain”: Ravichandran Ashwin trolls Jos Buttler
While discussing the IPL auction on his YouTube channel, Ashwin brought up the ‘Mankad’ story involving Buttler, which independent journalist Vimal Kumar uploaded on Instagram.
Responding to a question to weigh-in on the Englishman, Ashwin said: “Banda bahut acha hain, soft-spoken person, par crease k bahar jata hain. 2-3 baar ho chuka hain. But Buttler kamaal ka banda hain, kitne baar bola Rajasthan Royals ko retain karne ko par kiya hi nahi (Jos Buttler is a very nice person, soft spoken, but he goes out of the crease. This has been at least 2-3 times. Otherwise, he is an awesome person, Rajasthan Royals were advice to retain him but they didn’t.)”
Ashwin returns to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after being acquired for Rs 9.75 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Buttler, on the other hand, was not retained by the Royals and will now play for the Gujarat Titans, who signed the English wicketkeeper-batsman for Rs 15.75 crore.
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