Guyana

Jos Buttler admits India outplayed England in the Guyana semi-final as the defending champions crashed out of the 2024 T20 World Cup after a 68-run loss. Reflecting on how they failed to beat a spirited Indian Team, Buttler said his judgement error of not bowling Moeen Ali on the spin-friendly track is one of the reasons behind the embarrassing defeat.

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While for India, their captain Rohit Sharma (57), Suryakumar Yadav (47) and Player of the Match Axar Patel (for his six-ball ten and three wickets for 23 runs in the second innings) made headlines, England’s performers were their two leg spinners – Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone and seamer Chris Jordan, who picked three wickets.

After electing to bowl first following a rain delay, England’s back was against the wall. Rashid and Liam provided some relief later by conceding a combined 49 runs in eight overs, picking a wicket each. Though Buttler ruled out toss as the reason for their thrashing, he admitted that avoiding bowling Moeen on this track proved costly, as India, per him, scored 20-25 runs more to his liking.

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“They certainly outplayed us. I think maybe we let them get 20-25 runs too many. That was a challenging surface that they played well on. But they outplayed us and fully deserved the win,” Buttler said at the post-match presentation.

"Obviously, they've got some fantastic spinners. Our two guys bowled well, but in hindsight, I should have brought Moeen [on] in that innings, with the way that the spin was playing.

"Obviously, with the rain around in those conditions, I probably didn't think it was going to change that much. And I actually don't think it really did. I thought they out-bowled us. They had an above-par score. So I don't think necessarily the toss was the difference between the teams,” Buttler continued.

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‘India deserved to win’

While Team India continues to make merry at ICC events, with the Rohit Sharma-led side reaching another final in another year, Buttler reflected on his team’s misfortune of failing to make it big for the second time in two years. 

Buttler did credit India for playing their best brand of cricket and winning the semis tie but also backed his boys for showing heart and playing ruthless cricket in this edition. 

"Credit to India, they played a really good game of cricket, and they deserve the win,” Buttler reflected on the Guyana semis clash.

"With everything that's happened throughout the whole tournament, we're really proud of everyone's efforts to be here," Buttler added, recalling how England pulled up the socks at the right time after being down in their first two matches.

"You can only play who's put in front of you. We've had lots of adversity throughout the competition. We've stuck together well as a group and played some really good cricket in patches but came up short when we needed it most,” England’s white-ball captain concluded.

(With inputs from agencies)