2018–2022: Return to Test cricket, World Cup and Ashes series
In May 2018, Buttler was recalled into England's Test squad to play Pakistan at Lord's later that month. He had a successful return to Test cricket, scoring two half-centuries and scoring the most runs in the series; he also won the Man of the Match award at Headingley. His unbeaten 80 was the catalyst to put England ahead of the game after first innings.
In the subsequent ODI series against Australia in June 2018, he scored two half-centuries in the first four matches and then, in the fifth and final game of the series, he made 110 not out to take England to a historic series whitewash. In this match, no other English batsman made more than 20 and Buttler was afterwards described as "the best white-ball wicketkeeper batsman in the world". Buttler was named Man of the Match for his 110 not out, and also named Man of the Series for his impressive contributions with both bat and gloves. Buttler's innings was remarkable, coming in at 27–4, he looked the only settled batsman before the hosts slumped to 114–8. Alongside the tail, he dragged England home in dramatic style. In 2020, Wisden ranked it Buttler's finest ODI hundred, as well as the best ODI innings of 2018. In the T20I match of Australia's tour, Buttler scored the fastest T20I half-century by an English cricketer, in 22 balls.
Buttler replaced James Anderson as the Test vice-captain on 31 July 2018, thus combining the role in all formats. He registered his maiden Test century in the third Test of India's tour of England in August 2018, with a score of 106. Buttler then retained his place in the Test and one-day squads, being selected to tour Sri Lanka in October and into the following year. In a low-scoring series, Buttler hit two vital half-centuries as England romped to a 3–0 win. He was commended for nullifying the extremely difficult batting conditions by employing techniques such as using his feet and frequently playing sweep shots.
In February 2019, during the fourth ODI of England's tour of the West Indies, Buttler scored a career-best 150 from 77 deliveries as England reached 418/6. During this innings, he hit 12 sixes, at the time the most by any English batsman in an ODI, and went from 51 to 100 in just 15 balls and from 100 to 150 in just 16 deliveries. This was part of an England world record for the most sixes in an ODI, with 24. Following the innings, West Indian batsman Chris Gayle praised Buttler, stating, "He is superb, one of the best strikers [of the ball] in world cricket today. ... We can see he is a game-winner, a game-changer and every team needs a player like that to win games.", while England captain Eoin Morgan described him as "built like a champion racehorse".
In the second ODI of the five-match series against Pakistan in May, Buttler scored an unbeaten 110 from 55 balls, his century coming in only 50 deliveries. This is the second fastest hundred by an English batsman in ODI cricket after his own record set against Pakistan in 2015.
In April 2019, he was named as the vice-captain of the England squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The ICC named Buttler as the key player of England's squad prior to the tournament.
Buttler made a quiet start to the tournament, scoring only 18 runs in the opening match of the tournament against South Africa at The Oval, which ended in a comprehensive 104-run win for England. In the next match against Pakistan, he scored 103 from 76 balls (the then-fastest century by an English batsman in a World Cup) and shared a 130-run partnership with Joe Root for the fourth wicket, despite a shock 14-run defeat. He made 64 in the third match against Bangladesh as England posted 386/6, their highest ever World Cup score. However, he did not keep wicket during Bangladesh's innings after sustaining a minor hip injury while batting, making way for Jonny Bairstow to assume the role for the match, which England won by 106 runs.
Buttler scored 59 runs in the final against New Zealand and contributed to a crucial 110-run partnership with Ben Stokes to help tie the match. His innings was particularly crucial and game-changing as he scored at a quicker rate on a difficult pitch where other batsmen including his partner and Man Of the Match Ben Stokes struggled. Towards the end with both teams making 241 from their respective innings, he was selected to bat in the ensuing Super Over along with Stokes, from which the pair scored 15 runs; Buttler scoring seven with a boundary from the final ball. He completed the run out of Martin Guptill on the last ball of New Zealand's over as he attempted a match-winning second run. The throw was from Jason Roy which was quite wide of the stumps but Buttler's game awareness and compusure made up for it as he completed the run out. His match winning run out was later awarded as the moment of the year in 2020 in BBC Sports awards of 2019. This tied the Super Over and secured England's maiden World Cup title, winning by a superior boundary count.
In July 2019, following England's World Cup success, the ECB named Buttler in the fourteen-man Test squad for the upcoming Ashes series.
Before the suspension of International Cricket in March, Buttler was part of the England team which beat South Africa in a 3 match T20 series, 2–1. Buttler scored 55 in the final match aiding a large England total and ultimate victory. On 29 May 2020, Buttler was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 June 2020, Buttler was included in England's 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the Test series against the West Indies. On 4 July 2020, Buttler was named in England's thirteen-man squad for the first Test match of the series. Buttler was England's stand out batsman of the summer, averaging 52 whilst notching up 2 half centuries, the latter a series winning 75 in the fourth innings at Old Trafford alongside Chris Woakes from almost certain defeat. It was later defined a career saving innings. In the final test of the summer at The Rose Bowl, Southampton, Buttler struck a second test century, 152 off 311 deliveries, in a record partnership with teammate Zac Crawley. It was described as a mature and coming-of-age innings. Despite Buttler's strong summer with the bat, his wicketkeeping was brought under heavy criticism as he dropped several key chances in both series. In September Buttler was named in the England squad for the upcoming Australia ODI and T20 series. Despite a lean ODI series, Buttler scored 43 and a match winning 77* in the first two matches before being rested for the final match. Buttler's year ended with a 3 match T20 visit to South Africa. In the final match of the series Buttler was part of a match-winning and record-breaking second-wicket partnership with teammate Dawid Malan, scoring 67* himself.
On 11 December 2020, Buttler was named vice captain for the tour of Sri Lanka in January 2021 following Ben Stokes' resting. He made scores of 30, 55 and 46 not out in Galle as England won 2–0. He retained the wicket-keeping duties for the tour despite his troubled summer and performed impressively, taking 9 catches and executing his first Test stumping. It was announced on 21 January that Buttler would be returning home after the first test of the upcoming series in India in line with England's rotation and resting policy. This came a day after it was revealed that he had been retained by Rajasthan Royals for the 2021 Indian Premier League. Buttler made scores of 30 and 24 and took 5 catches helping England to a famous victory in the first test against India in Chennai before returning home to rest. Buttler returned to India for the white ball leg of the tour. In the 5 match T20 series in Ahmedabad, Buttler was England's stand out batsman with 2 half centuries and averaging over 40, including his highest T20I score of 83 not out in the 3rd outing. During the following ODI series, Buttler's lean 50 over form continued. However, through Eoin Morgan's finger injury, Buttler captained the final 2 games; winning 1.
In September 2021, Buttler was named in England's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. On 1 November 2021, in England's World Cup match against Sri Lanka, Buttler scored his first century in T20I cricket, with a 101*. and became the first English men's player to score a century in all three formats of cricket (Tests, ODIs and T20Is).
In November 2021, Buttler was named as the vice-captain of England's squad for the 2021–22 Ashes series.
On 17 June 2022, Buttler featured in the first ODI as part of a three-match series against the Netherlands. He scored 162 not out in 70 balls, his personal ODI high score and England would score 498 runs, which is the highest ODI score of all time. During that match Buttler scored 150 runs in 65 balls, the second fastest in the history of ODI cricket, one ball behind AB De Villiers.
