Despite achieving milestones, England's Jos Buttler expresses frustration with his T20 World Cup form and vows to maintain his aggressive batting approach.
Key Points
- Jos Buttler admits to being frustrated with his current form in the T20 World Cup despite achieving milestones.
- He emphasizes the need to keep evolving in T20 cricket and not rein in his natural aggressive game.
- England's wicketkeeper-batter acknowledges past periods of poor form and focuses on trusting his abilities and watching the ball.
- Buttler scored 170 runs in seven SA20 matches at an average of 28.33 and a strike rate of 149.12.
England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler, who is having an underwhelming T20 World Cup, admitted to being "a bit frustrated" with his form, but he is in no mood to "rein in a bit" and wants to tick the scoreboard with his hard-hitting batting for his team.
He became the fourth and first English batter to register 4,000 T20I runs, overtaking Sri Lanka legend Mahela Jayawardene, to become the third-highest run-getter in the tournament's history. Despite these two big records, he is yet to produce a memorable outing the ongoing ICC showpiece.
He has scored just 53 runs in four innings, at a poor average of 13.25 and a strike rate of 135.89, with two single-digit scores and two starts, scores of 26 and 21, that he could not convert into something big.
His last 10 T20I innings have seen him score just 167 runs, and his best score is 39.
Speaking on 'For the Love of Cricket Podcast', as quoted by ESPNcricinfo, a show which he co-hosts along with England pace legend Stuart Broad, Buttler said, "I am a bit frustrated, to be honest. I felt like I was playing really well in South Africa, in the SA20, without getting scores. One thing I would always pride myself on in T20s is, if you get in, to be able to go on and make a good contribution. I found myself getting out in the teens and twenties quite a bit, getting starts and then finding ways to get out."
In the SA20 before the tournament, he scored 170 runs in seven matches, at an average of 28.33 and a strike rate of 149.12, with a fifty for Durban Super Giants (DSG).
England finished second, behind the West Indies in Group C, to qualify for the Super Eights. Their first match is against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Sunday afternoon. They whitewashed the Lankans in a three-match T20I series at the same venue earlier this month, but were unconvincing in the group stage of the ICC's T20 showpiece.
Buttler says he is "trying too hard" instead of being relaxed and letting things happen.
"The first two games, I got in, 20-odds, and not managing to go on and make those telling contributions is frustrating. And then a couple of low scores against Scotland and Italy... T20, you want to be positive and get on with it, but I made a couple of mistakes and got out."
"I love batting and ,I love playing cricket, and I love scoring runs. As much as you are frustrated with your form and you want to obviously contribute to the team, part of cricket is I love batting, and so not doing as much batting as you would like is frustrating.
"It's just trying to remember the things that you do well at your best and trying to take each game as it comes," he continued.
Buttler's Approach to T20 Cricket
Buttler pointed out that T20 is a format where one has to "keep making plays" and there is no point controlling your natural game unless really needed, like "bat for an hour". Recently, former England skipper Nasser Hussain had urged the batter to "give himself a chance".
"T20 is one of those games that asks you to keep making plays," he said. "At times, when you have been out of form in a Test match, a batting coach might say, 'Just rein it in for a bit, and try and bat for an hour, and it will come back to you - just by hook or by crook, bat for an hour.'
"But in T20 you have got to keep playing the scoreboard. If you are chasing 10 an over, you have got to play accordingly. I saw Nasser saying, 'Just bat for 15 overs' and I would love to just bat for 15 overs, but I do not want to bat for 15 overs just for myself and ignore the game. You have got to still play the game," he added.
Overcoming Poor Form
He also pointed out that the game "just keeps challenging you" and he takes pride in his performances.
"I have been through lots of patches of poor form over 15 years in all different formats. It is always the same things that you come back to at the end, which is to stand still and watch the ball and trust yourself."
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