Former England captain Kevin Pietersen believes Jos Buttler is the "best player on the planet" after his outstanding run of form for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.
Buttler finished the IPL as the leading run scorer, having made 863 at an average of 57.53 as Rajasthan reached the final. The 31-year-old scored the second most amount of runs ever in a single season and also equalled Virat Kohli's record for the most hundreds in an IPL campaign with four.
Unsurprisingly, Pietersen named him in his team of the tournament, describing Buttler as the "best player on the planet". In his column for Betway, Pietersen wrote: "A truly historic campaign.
"The second-most runs ever scored in an IPL season, the joint-highest number of centuries, and some spectacular hitting. The best player on the planet."
Unfortunately for Buttler, his side came up short in the final as they lost to Gujarat Titans by seven wickets. Buttler did top score for Rajasthan with 39, but their total of 130-9 was simply not enough.
Pietersen also selected Lucknow Supergiants openers KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock in his side, with the pair the second and third leading run scorers respectively behind Buttler. Pietersen described Rahul as "one of the most consistent batters across all formats", but was "overshadowed by the genius of Buttler".
Hardik Pandya, who led Gujarat to the title in their debut season, also made the team after "scoring tough runs and taking huge wickets". Liam Livingstone was the second England star named in Pietersen's side, having scored 437 runs at an explosive strike rate of 182.08.
Pietersen also picked Josh Hazlewood and Umran Malik as his frontline seamers and Rajsthan duo Ravi Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal as his spinners. David Miller and Rahul Tewatia round out his team of the season.
Kevin Pietersen's IPL Team of the Tournament: Jos Buttler, Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Liam Livingstone, David Miller, Ravi Ashwin, Rahul Tewatia, Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Josh Hazlewood
