England’s players will leave IPL 2024 at the business end to play in the four-match T20I series against Pakistan, which was in contention ahead of the play-offs. Now, Rajasthan Royals’ bold opener and England captain Jos Buttler has said that international matches should not be held at the same time as the IPL.
After the first T20I was called off due to rain, Buttler said in an interview with Sky Sports: “This is a unique preparation and that’s why I thought it was good to get the players together for this series. My personal In my personal opinion, there should never be any international cricket that overlaps with the IPL.In my personal opinion, there should never be any international cricket that overlaps with the IPL.”
Buttler is a part of the Rajasthan Royals franchise, which coincidentally secured the second qualifier on the same day against Sunrisers Hyderabad to determine the second finalist of this IPL season.
The England captain soon shifted his focus to the series at hand on the road to the T20 World Cup. “But my priority at the moment is to captain England and prepare as well as I can for the world championships.”
England men’s managing director Rob Key said it was Buttler who initiated the early withdrawal of England players from the franchise league. “Look, as England captain, it’s obvious you’re going to play this series against Pakistan. How do you see it? And he immediately said, ‘No, no, I want to come back and start preparing for the World Cup in the series just before that,'” Key said, as ESPN Cricinfo reported earlier this month.
England and Pakistan will play three more T20Is until May 30, the day before the start of the T20 World Cup. Neither team has played warm-up games in the Caribbean and the United States in preparation for the tournament.
Disappointed that the first T20I at Leeds was called off, Buttler said: “It’s really frustrating. We’ve been preparing really well for two days and everyone was really excited about this series. England It’s a real shame because it would be great just to play in England wearing this shirt. But we still have three games to go, so there’s a lot to look forward to.”
The second T20I is scheduled to be held at Edgbaston on May 25.
© IE Online Media Services Co., Ltd.
Originally uploaded to: May 23, 2024 0:50 am
