London, April 13: South African batting ace AB de Villiers had mistaken Jos Buttler as a New Zealander when the two first had a conversation during the Indian Premier League (IPL), the England wicketkeeper batsman has said.
"De Villiers has been my idol growing up. The guy I love watching, he is just awesome," Buttler, who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, said during The Royals Podcast Episode 3, the full show of which will be aired on their official social media handles on Tuesday.
"Got to know him a little bit during the IPL actually when I was at Mumbai (Indians). Just at the start of the game, he said I will catch up with you for a beer at the hotel after the game," said Buttler, a World Cup winner in 2019 with England and also regarded as one of the most destructive batters of the game today.
"I was like so excited. I was like so cool getting to drink a beer with AB de Villiers. I got back to the hotel told my fiance at that time (now wife) we are going to go straight to the bar.
"AB de Villiers will be there for a drink, this is going to be awesome.
"We probably chatted for 20 minutes, having a great time I am loving it and he has got pretty strong Afrikaans accent. About 20 minutes into the conversation, he asks 'which part of New Zealand are you from?' and that just absolutely killed me," said the 29-year old, laughing. Buttler was born in Taunton, Somerset and has so far played 41 Tests, 142 ODIs and 69 T20Is for England.
Prior to this, Royals spin bowling consultant and New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, who is generally the host of the show, spoke to Australian batting ace Steve Smith and Shreyas Gopal.