Jos Buttler, England's T20I captain, has made a very tactical decision to recall English players much earlier than expected from the Indian Premier League. His action was an effort to help the team prepare for the T20 World Cup next month in the USA and the Caribbean. Buttler and eight other Englishmen left their IPL franchises last week. This was as the league stage of the IPL came to a close on Sunday, and knockout matches started on Tuesday. Buttler, Will Jacks, Reece Topley, and Phil Salt were supposed to stay in India to feature in the playoffs.
Describing his passion for representing England, Buttler said that playing for England is the priority he wants to pursue. That's repeated as England, the reigning T20 champions, are going to start their five-match T20I series against Pakistan on Wednesday.
The managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Rob Key, said that Buttler urged for players to be brought back home from India to have them ready enough before the T20 extravaganza in the West Indies and the USA. Buttler stressed, "I said, 'Look, as an England captain, my main priority is to be playing for England. 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 on 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."
While the decision hasn't elicited much response from other teams, apart from the Indian media, England all-rounder and Punjab Kings stand-in captain Sam Curran expressed support for Buttler's stance. Curran emphasized that returning early allows the team to bond effectively. "It was a collective decision to return early, which seemed appropriate. It's fair for all franchises to experience a similar loss of players. It would have been unfair if certain franchises retained multiple players while others didn't," Curran remarked.
He further added, "I think Jos, Motty [Matthew Mott], and Keysy wanted us all back together for this series. It makes great sense because obviously, we want to be playing as a team and get used to our roles. It's quite hard when you go tournament to tournament, and then straight into a big tournament like [the World Cup] where you haven't really played together."
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