A match-winning 77-run knock from Jos Buttler catalyzed an incredible win for Mumbai Indians. Speaking after a memorable performance, the Englishman said, “It was a fantastic wicket, small ground as well. Winning the toss was probably a big advantage for us after what looked like a really good score set by Kings XI Punjab. We got off to a good start and it just shows that you never quite know what a good score is these days.”

Chasing a huge total needs a strong mentality from the get-go. When asked about Mumbai Indians’ strategy, Jos replied, “We wanted to go and get off to a fast start. When you’re chasing scores of around 200, you really need that good start. Luckily, Parthiv and myself put on a very good partnership. In those first six overs when you’re chasing scores of 200 and when the field’s up you need to make the most of it.” And make the most of it they indeed did as the team chased down the total with overs to spare.

After getting off to good starts in the previous games, the hard-hitting batsman was visibly delighted about converting this one into a big score, “I’ve felt in really good touch for the whole tournament. I feel delighted to go ahead and make a score that really counts towards the team winning. I haven’t quite had the big innings – both last year and this year – those match-winning innings that I feel I’m capable of, so I’m delighted that I managed to hold on today.”

When it came to chasing, Mumbai Indians have proven to be masters at it – winning the last five games batting second. When asked what it came down to, Buttler responded, “Guys are in good form. We’ve obviously won some games from potentially losing positions. Hardik Pandya’s been fantastic and he’s got us over the line a few times. Nitish is playing fantastically well. The guys are in good form and the guys are confident. We feel like chasing scores is no target too much to chase down.”

What probably took everyone by shock was the rate at which the runs were chased. At the heart of that chase was Buttler himself, “We got off to a fantastic start. Hashim Amla played a brilliant knock, it was a great 100 from him. I think once we got off to such a good start, I felt like I could keep continuing even though we got the run rate to pretty manageable level as such. I think we just felt that we could keep going and really put the pressure on KXIP, which we managed to do.”

Mumbai Indians roll out the red carpet for the visit of the Delhi Daredevils on Saturday, April 22nd in a game where Jos BUttler will look to continue his rich vein of form.