The Day Jos Buttler Forgot How to Hit Sixes

GT 165/3 (18.4) beat LSG 164/8 (20) by 7 wickets. Ekana Stadium, Lucknow. April 12, 2026.

THE ANOMALY

Four days ago, Jos Buttler became the fifth man in T20 history to clear the ropes 600 times. He joined Gayle (1,056), Pollard (981), Russell (784), and Pooran (712) in a club reserved for the most destructive hitters the format has ever produced.

On Saturday at Ekana, he scored 60 off 37 balls without hitting a single six. Eleven fours. Zero sixes. Strike rate 162.

The man who has deposited 600 deliveries into stadium stands played an entire match-winning innings without once going aerial.

THE DUALITY OF BUTTLER

Here is what makes this genuinely strange. Against Delhi Capitals on April 8 — four days before this innings — Buttler scored 52 off 27 balls with five sixes and three fours. That is a 63% six-to-boundary ratio. At Ekana, it dropped to exactly 0%.

Same batter. Same tournament. Same week. Completely opposite method.

But the real anomaly runs deeper. In IPL 2022 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Buttler scored 70 not out off 47 balls with six sixes and ZERO FOURS. That remains the highest T20 score ever recorded without hitting a single four.

So the same player holds records on both extremes: the highest T20 score with no fours (70*) AND one of the highest IPL scores with no sixes (60). He is the only batter alive who has done both.

THE DATA BEHIND THE MADNESS

Innings of 50+ with zero sixes in T20 cricket are becoming rarer, not more common. The modern game pushes batters toward aerial shots — death-over acceleration, boundary-length fields, matchups designed around clearing the rope.

Buttler choosing to score 60 entirely through fours was not a limitation. It was a tactical decision. Look at his wagon wheel from this innings: drives through cover, punches through point, flicks off the pads. Every single boundary stayed along the ground or cleared the inner ring without troubling the stands.

For context, the T20I record for a fifty-plus score with zero sixes belongs to Brian Bennett of Zimbabwe — 81 off 57 balls (12 fours, 0 sixes) against Sri Lanka in September 2025. In the IPL, where bowling attacks are arguably stronger, Buttler's 60 joins a very exclusive list.

WHY THIS MATTERS FOR YOUR FANTASY TEAM

If you build fantasy teams based on six-hitting ability alone, this innings should be your wake-up call. Buttler's 60(37) scored more fantasy points than most six-heavy innings — 11 fours at 1 point each, plus the fifty bonus, plus 60 run points. The math works out the same whether those runs come from sixes or placement.

The players who win you fantasy leagues are not the ones who hit the most sixes. They are the ones who score runs in ALL conditions. Buttler at Ekana showed he can dominate without going aerial. That versatility is what separates a 10-credit player from a 7-credit one.

THE REST OF THE STORY

Prasidh Krishna collected career-best figures of 4/28 to restrict LSG to 164/8 — a below-par total on a surface that had little to offer the seamers. LSG were gasping at 120/6 in the 17th over before a late lower-order effort, including 18 off the final over, dragged them to some respectability.

Shubman Gill continued his purple patch with 56 off 40 balls — his second consecutive fifty in IPL 2026. The Gill-Buttler partnership made 165 look like a warm-up target. A 20-run Gill over against Mohammed Shami in the powerplay effectively killed the contest before it started. GT cruised home with 8 balls to spare.

But the stat that will live longest from Match 19 is not Prasidh's four-fer or Gill's consistency.

It is the night Jos Buttler proved that the 600-six club member can win you a match without hitting a single one.

SCOREBOARD

LSG 164/8 (20 overs) - A Markram 30(21), N Pooran 19, R Pant 18(11) - Prasidh Krishna 4/28, Ashok Sharma 2/32

GT 165/3 (18.4 overs) - Jos Buttler 60(37) [11x4, 0x6], Shubman Gill 56(40) - W Sundar 21, R Tewatia 10

Man of the Match: Prasidh Krishna

KEY NUMBERS

11 — Fours by Buttler. Zero sixes. 600 — T20 career sixes by Buttler (5th all-time). None of them came on Saturday. 4/28 — Prasidh Krishna's career-best IPL figures. 2 — Consecutive fifties for Shubman Gill in IPL 2026. 8 — Balls remaining when GT completed the chase.

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