England’s Jos Buttler (AP Photo)
Jos Buttler has admitted he is feeling “a bit frustrated” with his form in the ongoing T20 World Cup but says he does not want to change his attacking style of batting.Buttler recently reached two big milestones. He became the first England player to score 4,000 runs in T20 internationals and moved past Mahela Jayawardene to become the third-highest run-scorer in T20 World Cup history.
However, he has not played a major innings in this tournament so far.
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In four matches, Buttler has scored only 53 runs at an average of 13.25. His scores include 26 and 21, but he could not turn those starts into big innings. In his last 10 T20I innings, he has managed just 167 runs, with a highest score of 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 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).
Buttler admitted he may have been “trying too hard” instead of staying relaxed. “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 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.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,” he added.
