Jos Buttler is often celebrated as England’s greatest ever limited-overs cricketer. But if he can power England to their second T20 World Cup title this time, in Australia, his legacy will stand the test of time, writes Shashwat Kumar.
Buttler is arguably one of the finest T20 batters on the planet. In the past couple of years, no one has scored as many centuries. His 2,444 runs since the start of 2021 have come at an average of 44.43 and a strike rate of 147. He is pretty much everything you would want from a T20 batter.
At the start of this T20 World Cup, however, he struggled. He scratched his way to 18 against Afghanistan, and fell for a duck against Ireland. His struggles also reflected how England huffed and puffed with the bat in their opening two games, hitting only a couple of sixes and lacking the impetus they are renowned for.
With a semi-final spot on the line, England then arrived at the Gabba to play New Zealand on Tuesday. And no prizes for guessing who turned up for a near-must-win encounter. Buttler’s knock was not chanceless by any stretch. On another day, he could have been dismissed twice and the questions around England’s batting would only have grown louder.
But when luck decided to shine on him, Buttler did what all great players do – make the most of the situation. He plundered 73 from 47 balls to take England to an above-par total. He only hit seven fours and two sixes, yet scored at a strike rate of more than 150. If there was ever any innings to illustrate how Buttler had cracked the T20 batting code, this was it.
Buttler has had to silence a few doubters over his captaincy as well. As vice-captain, he was the obvious choice to replace Eoin Morgan when the latter retired. His full-time stint, though, did not start well. He captained England to a series victory against Australia just before the T20 World Cup; but when England scraped to a hard-fought win against Afghanistan and showed a slight lack of flexibility against Ireland, the scepticism grew.
On Tuesday, however, Buttler was superb. He deployed Moeen Ali at the start of the New Zealand innings, piling pressure on Devon Conway and Finn Allen. The sedate start forced Conway to take an unnecessary risk against Chris Woakes and perish. Buttler also brought Ben Stokes at the right juncture to mastermind Kane Williamson’s dismissal to send the New Zealand into a tailspin.
Woakes, typically not England’s first-choice death bowler, then returned to polish off New Zealand’s middle and lower orders. There were a couple of batting promotions too. These did not yield the desired effect, but hinted that Buttler and England were always ahead of the eight-ball.
This came on the back of a week where England surrendered the initiative to Ireland and saw rain dash their hopes against Australia, when clamours around how England were perhaps not as strong as they were touted to be had increased. Personally, too, there were question marks over whether Buttler could handle the pressure of leading the side. He answered all of those questions emphatically – something only the very best are able to do.
Buttler’s status in cricketing folklore is not going to be defined by this T20 World Cup. He has accomplished enough for a blip to not undermine the dominance he has exerted in the recent past. But World Cup wins have a curious knack of changing public perception. Ask AB de Villiers or Lionel Messi.
A T20 World Cup triumph, that too on Australian soil, with Morgan having only handed him over captaincy a few months ago, will help Buttler’s legacy stand the test of time. He has always been touted to get there, but will definitely be fast-tracked to that pedestal if he helps England clinch the title. You sense he will stay there for a significant period too.
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