Jos Buttler dismisses retirement talk; eyes India series in July despite T20 World Cup slump

England white-ball veteran Jos Buttler has dismissed retirement talks following a forgettable T20 World Cup 2026 in the sub-continent. Although he continues to be ambitious about representing England, with 18 months left on his contract (and an India ODI, T20I series scheduled later), Buttler rejected donning the captain’s hat once again. The right-hander managed only 87 runs from eight outings in the tournament, averaging fewer than 10 and an embarrassing strike-rate of just 116.

England backed its former skipper throughout amid his sleek run with the bat. In his last outing against India in the second semifinal in Mumbai, Buttler scored 25 while chasing 254, with England narrowly losing the match by seven runs.

"I hope so," Buttler said of his England future on ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast. "I don't know. Obviously, I had a poor tournament, which is disappointing, but I've been playing some of the best cricket of my career in recent years, so hopefully, I can get back to playing my best.

"I certainly have ambitions [to continue playing for England], but no longer being a captain, I'm not a selector and whatever, so what will be will be. Yeah, we will see," he continued.

Once a batting giant and now a pale shadow of himself, Buttler wanted to rush away from cricket and take some time off, which he did after the T20 World Cup. Residing up in the mountains somewhere in France for a week helped him collect himself after a demotivating ICC event, which he believes could also be his last, as the ball is now in the selectors’ court.

"I couldn't have been further away from cricket, which for me at the time was just perfect. It's exactly what I needed," Buttler said. "It was really refreshing - I really enjoyed it, a complete sort of release. And slowly but surely, I'd say at the start of this week, [I am] just starting to reflect a bit and have a few thoughts about what's important to me and my cricket, and why it probably didn't go quite as I would've liked,” he continued.

Buttler will now return to India to link up with the Gujarat Titans (GT) squad for IPL 2026, with the 19th edition starting on March 28.

Meanwhile, considering England’s next marquee white-ball assignment is against India in July this year, including five T20Is and three ODIs, it remains to be seen if selectors will bestow their trust in Buttler or not.