Jos Buttler, the captain of England, has expressed his disapproval of the Indian Premier League (IPL) conflicting with the international cricket calendar, stating that playing for the national team is his top priority.
Buttler backed the England Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to recall the T20 World Cup players from the IPL 2024 for the T20 series against Pakistan, saying, “As an England captain, my main priority is to be playing for England.”
Other than Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Reece Topley, Phil Salt, Moeen Ali, and Jonny Bairstow were all forced to exit the Indian League prior to the competition’s playoffs.
“In my view, there shouldn’t be any international cricket matches that coincide with the Indian Premier League.
These games, in my opinion, have been scheduled for a while. Naturally, your top priority when heading into a World Cup is representing England and playing for them. This, in my opinion, is the ideal preparation,” he continued.
Sam Curran has previously stated, “It was a decision that was made, that it was probably the right thing for us all to come back.” Sam Curran supported the ECB’s decision to invite the players back. It was only right that a player or two would be lost by each team. If certain teams had been allowed to retain a few players while others were not, it would have been quite unfair.
“I believe Buttler, Rob Key, and Motty [Matthew Mott] wanted us all to be back together for this series.” Obviously, we want to play as a team and become accustomed to our duties, so that makes perfect sense. Going from tournament to tournament and then right into a major event like [the] is really difficult.
Schedule
May 22 — First T20I at Leeds
May 25 — Second T20I at Birmingham
May 28 — Third T20I at Cardiff
May 30 — Fourth T20I at The Oval
England squad
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.
Pakistan squad
Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Khan
