ICC T20 World Cup 2022: "No, Far From It": Jos Buttler Discusses Whether England Are "Favourites" For The T20 World Cup
Published - 21 Oct 2022, 05:47 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:14 AM
Jos Buttler, England’s captain, declared Friday that a new era had begun for his country and cautioned that his “dangerous” team was “very ready” for their title defence at the Twenty20 World Cup.
England, who are the favourites along with the hosts and current champions Australia, play Afghanistan in Perth on Saturday to open their campaign.
After taking over for Eoin Morgan as England’s white-ball captain in June, Jos Buttler guided his squad to victories over Pakistan and Australia in the T20 series leading up to the World Cup.
“We are in a good spot. We have had really good games in the last 10 matches and played some really good cricket,” the wicketkeeper-batsman said, striking a buoyant tone. On the eve of the tournament, we are very ready” Jos Buttler said.
Even with England’s troubling performance, which included a series victory in Pakistan, the 32-year-old Buttler denied the title claim.
“No, far from it, to be honest. I think we are a dangerous team, we have got a lot of talented players who can win games on their own and that’s a huge thing in T20 cricket,” Jos Buttler said.
“If you had to choose one (favorite) then it has to be Australia in their conditions and being reigning champions.”
“A lot of them played in the past era”: Jos Buttler
Reece Topley, a fast bowler for England, which won the T20 championship in 2010, suffered an ankle injury and had to be replaced by Tymal Mills.
Along with Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, and Moeen Ali, Buttler is leading the batting charge. Sam Curran and David Willey are both in good shape when it comes to bowling.
“I mentioned it to the players a lot but this is very much a new era for the English white-ball team,” said Jos Buttler.
“A lot of them played in the past era but it’s very much about looking forward now for this group.”
“Not to spend too much energy looking backward. I think it’s really important to be that forward-facing sort of team talking about the future a lot, and that starts with tomorrow.”
This time, England will play Afghanistan, and they are also in the same group as New Zealand, the last year’s runner-up, and Australia.
Also Read: Ireland Become The Third Team To Qualify For Super 12 Of ICC T20 World Cup 2022
