T20 World Cup: For England skipper Jos Buttler, country comes first

Jos Buttler, England’s white-ball captain and an architect of their second T20 World Cup win in 2022, has his heart in the right place. It’s at his insistence that the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) wants their national team players back from the different IPL franchises ahead of the league’s play-off stages so that they can be part of a four-match T20 series against Pakistan.

The IPL play-offs and the final are scheduled from 21-26 May, dates which are directly clashing with the Pakistan series – seen as a valuable build-up for the World T20. Incidentally, England had a dismal run in the last 50-overs World Cup in India despite going into the tournament as the reigning champions of both the ICC white ball crowns and don’t want to miss a beat in their preparations.

The unavailability of the English players in IPL in the last week is likely to hurt Buttler’s team Rajasthan Royals, Phil Salt (Kolkata Knight Riders), Moen Ali (Chennai Super Kings), Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone (Punjab Kings) and Will Jacks and Reece Topley (Royal Challengers Bengaluru). However, Royals, KKR and CSK will be affected the most as they are in line to make the play-offs as the business end of the tournament has begun.

In a recent interview, Rob Key, former England opener and ECB’s director of cricket revealed they have toed Buttler’s suggestion. ‘’I asked him (Buttler) very early on in the piece and said, Look, as England captain, you’re obviously going to have this series against Pakistan. How do you see it? And straightaway, he said: No, no. I want to come back and start getting ready for the World Cup in that series just before it,’’ Key told ESPNCricinfo.

Buttler, who has warmed up with two centuries in the IPL so far, will also take heart from the explosive form of Phil Salt for the Knights along with Bairstow coming into his own for Punjab Kings. An interesting addition to the squad is a fit-again speedster Jofra Archer, who played a key role in their 2019 triumph in the 50-overs World Cup at home. 

 They start their group league campaign against Ireland, a team with a knack for upsetting the favourites in limited overs cricket, on 4 June in Barbados.

Meanwhile, nine of the all-time high number of 20 teams in the fray have announced their provisional squads within the 1 May deadline. The cut-off date for final squads is 24 May and three former champions like Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka are yet to make an announcement among those who didn’t comply with the initial deadline.

The Squads

England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj. Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee. Travelling Reserve: Ben Sears

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan (c), Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik. Reserves: Sediq Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Saleem Safi

Canada: Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Dilon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Harsh Thaker, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva. Reserves: Tajinder Singh, Aaditya Varadharajan, Ammar Khalid, Jatinder Matharu, Parveen Kumar.

Nepal: Rohit Paudel (c), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Kumar Sah, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratis GC, Sundeep Jora, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, Kamal Singh Airee

Oman: Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Kashyap Prajapati, Pratik Athavale (wk), Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Naseem Khushi (wk), Mehran Khan, Bilal Khan, Rafiullah, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Shakeel Ahmad, Khalid Kail. Reserves: Jatinder Singh, Samay Shrivastava, Sufyan Mehmood, Jay Odedra

Bangladesh, Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United States, West Indies: Yet to be announced.