"IPL gives us lot of familiarity": Jos Buttler

England captain Jos Buttler has said that the experience of playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will help his side to do well in the World Cup title defence in Indian conditions. Buttler backed his team’s aggressive style of play, believing it would help them in the challenging conditions of India as they aim to retain their 50-over World Cup title as well.

Although England’s performance in 50-over cricket has not been too good since their historic victory in 2019, their morale has been boosted by their successful campaign in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia last year as well as their recent form since arriving in India as well.

“I think it gives us a lot of familiarity with the venues and the travel around India, the hotels you stay in, and those kinds of things. So, we know what to expect. Obviously, we’re playing 50 over cricket, not 20 over cricket as you would in the IPL. And lots of the other teams are in a similar position with that. Many players from all around the world come here and experience the IPL. So, I believe that’s an advantage for most teams to have played quite a bit of cricket in India,” Buttler said the media ahead of the World Cup 2023 opener.

However, in the warm-up matches, England has shown good form, with players like Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, and Moeen Ali doing well with the bat, while Reece Topley and Adil Rashid have taken wickets also. And, England have the potential to win the title this year.

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“I think the big skill in it, there’ll be lots of different wickets we’ll play on around the country. There can be some of the best batting wickets in the world here. Some of them can be a little bit on the slower side, some can spin. So, reading the conditions quickly will be a big part of the game. But we will always try and adapt our style of attacking cricket to whatever surfaces we’re playing on. I think you’ve got to adapt in the game and play differently. But we’ll always, whatever the sort of game is, we’ll try and play at the higher level of that,” Jos Buttler again added.

“We all know what a fantastic player he is. The start to his international career has been outstanding – in T20 cricket and the Test format. He’s not played loads of ODI cricket, but it’s a format that should suit him perfectly. It will allow him to bat for a long time and make big runs, which he enjoys doing. So, he has got all the shots, you know, for Test cricket, he can play big innings. So, it’s a format that should suit him well,” Jos Buttler concluded.