England skipper Jos Buttler bluntly stated that the cricket boards should consider the IPL before finalising their international calendar. The English players will skip the last leg of IPL 2024 as teams will miss star players like Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Reece Topley and Will Jacks in the crucial playoff matches. The England and Wales Cricket Board recalled the players for national duty against Pakistan for the T20I series prior to the T20 World Cup 2024.
Buttler’s franchise, Rajasthan Royals, will miss his services at the top of the order against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL Eliminator on Wednesday.
England take on Pakistan in the first of the four T20Is on Wednesday as skipper Buttler said that his main priority is to play for his national team.
“I said, ‘Look, as an England captain, my main priority is to be playing for England,'” Buttler told reporters here on Tuesday.
“It’s my personal opinion that there shouldn’t be any international cricket that clashes with the IPL. I think that these games have been in the calendar for a long time. Of course, leading into a World Cup, your No. 1 priority is playing for England and performing for England. I feel like this is the best preparation,” he added.
England will defend their T20 World Champions title in the USA and West Indies but they will be under pressure after a failed title defence last year in the ODI World Cup in India.
Earlier, star all-rounder Sam Curran, who represented Punjab Kings in the IPL, said the ECB’s decision made a lot of sense.
“It was a decision that was made, that it was probably the right thing for us all to come back. It was only fair for all franchises to lose a player each or so… it would have been quite harsh if some franchises got to keep a couple of players and then some didn’t,” the all-rounder, whose IPL team did not qualify for the play-offs, was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Vaughan comes in support of England stars
Meanwhile, former captain Michael Vaughan came in support of the English players after they received backlash from senior players from the cricket fraternity – Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan, for leaving the IPL early.
“If you are going back to represent your country, which England players have done, I think that’s fair enough. They are playing a series against Pakistan. The England players wouldn’t have gone back if it wasn’t for the Pakistan series,” Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.
