T20 World Cup 2024

‘That’s why we used him early’ – Jos Buttler reveals England’s master plan which helped them to restrict India to a low total in semi final of 20-20 World Cup

England registered a comprehensive win over India in the second semi-final of the 20-20 World Cup 2022 on Thursday. The Englishmen led by their captain Jos Buttler didn’t give any opportunity to India to have an upper hand in the game at any stage of the match. The three-lions had to make several changes to their playing XI heading into the semi-finals as Mark Wood and Dawid Malan were unavailable for the big game due to injuries. After their comprehensive win, captain Jos Buttler shed light on the tactical changes he made in the eleven to script a win for the ages for his side.

The first change was bringing in Chris Jordan in place of Mark Wood. Jordan proved the faith shown by his captain and got the prized scalps of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

“To bring in Chris Jordan, someone who’s been a mainstay of the team for a long time, adds huge experience,” Buttler explained. “I thought the dimensions of this ground suited his game more than someone like David Willey.

The other star performer of the match was Adil Rashid who gave away just 20 runs in his four overs picking up the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav. India included the wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant in their XI to take down Rashid. However, Buttler completed all of his overs after the 12^th over of the innings hence there was no face-off between Pant and Rashid.

“That’s why we used him early,” Buttler said when asked about India’s selection of Pant. “I think he bowled the best I’ve seen him bowl in a long while today, he bowled on the seam, he tried to spin it hard and we had to get those guys out [India’s top order] and I thought he was the best chance to do that. To pick up the key wicket of Surya, it was such a huge performance from Dilly today.”

Talking about their batting approach during the chase, Buttler said that they always wanted to start aggressively given the batting depth of their side.

“We always want to start as fast as we can and aggressive,” he said. “Adil Rashid was down at number 11 today, and that gives us the freedom to come out aggressive, that depth. You couldn’t ask for a better run-chase. With such a long batting line-up it gives you a lot of freedom to play.”

England will now meet Pakistan in the final of the 20-20 World Cup on Sunday at the MCG.