Jos Buttler gets involved in a fight with Journalist ahead of their T20 World Cup opener today

Published - 04 Jun 2024, 10:51 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:12 AM

Jos Buttler with the 2022 T20 World Cup
Jos Buttler with the 2022 T20 World Cup (Credits: X)

England white-ball captain Jos Buttler got into a heated argument with the BBC reporters on the eve of his side's ICC T20 World Cup 2024 opener.

The Three Lions, who enter the ICC T20 WC as the reigning champions, will take on Scotland in their first Group B match later tonight. Jos Buttler and co. and riding high on confidence as well as momentum following their 2-0 T20 series victory over Pakistan last month. It was originally a 4-match series but 2 of those matches got washed out due to rain.

Other than the series, certain England players like Phil Salt, Will Jacks, and Jos Buttler himself had put up impressive performances in IPL 2024. The richest T20 league in the world was not just beneficial for the English team but also players from other nations like Australia and South Africa among others.

What happened between Jos Buttler and the BBC journalist?

On the eve of his side's opener against Scotland, Jos Buttler was in a conversation with BBC Journalists about England's plans and chances at the T20 World Cup. Last year, Buttler was under boiling water after the English team, under his captaincy, failed to defend the 50-over WC title they had won back in 2019.

Jos Buttler received a lot of stick for his side's ultra-defensive and fearful approach against other in-form sides. England were able to win just thrice out of their 9 league-stage games. They lost matches against New Zealand, Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India and Australia. Their three wins from the 9 games were against weaker oppositions like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Netherlands.

Before Jos Buttler had headed to India for the World Cup, he would tell the reporters that England's main aim was not to defend the title. That was Buttler's own of taking the pressure off but his words ended up manifesting themselves. Yesterday, the reporters asked him whether his mindset was the same as the World Cup in India last year.

To that, Buttler simply said that his sole focus is on the upcoming tournament and nothing else. He was then asked about what England's playing XI is going to be for the T20 mega event but the question rattled Buttler. "I am not going to tell you the team am I? I am pretty settled with what we are trying to do as a team. I don’t need to sit here and tell you."

Buttler not overthinking anything before the World Cup

Jos Buttler then made an admission that his side is not thinking too much about the tournament and is trying to stay in the present. The wicket-keeper batsman feels it's best for his England side to not have many 'preconceived ideas" or assumptions about what the behavior of the pitch is going to be.

"We are trying not to play the game before the game has been played. It’s important not to have too many preconceived ideas and assume the pitch will play in a certain way." - Buttler concluded.

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