T20 World Cup: Jos Buttler admits tactical mistake against India in semifinal

T20 World Cup: Jos Buttler admits tactical mistake against India in semifinal

NEW DELHI: England captain Jos Buttler acknowledged that they were thoroughly outclassed by India in the T20 World Cup semifinal, but he also acknowledged that, looking back, it was a tactical error on his side to leave Moeen Ali unbowled on a turning Providence wicket in Georgetown, Guyana.

In a rain-shortened semi-final on Thursday, the Indian spin duo of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav captured three wickets apiece as the reigning champions were reduced to 103 in 16.4 overs while chasing 172.

"Yeah, disappointing. I think we were outplayed by India. They fully deserved the victory," Buttler said in the post-match media interaction, according to PTI.

"They had an above-par score. I was hoping to restrict them to 145-150 probably on that pitch. It was always going to be a tough chase from there."

After winning the toss, the England captain named an unchanged playing eleven, choosing instead to go with Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone as his spinners-possibly to deal with the wet conditions-instead of Moeen Ali.

In their eight overs, Rashid and Livingstone gave up just 49 runs, and in the fourteenth over, the former also put a stop to India captain Rohit Sharma's thrilling effort at 39 balls and 57 runs.

Asked if there was a failure of plans or execution, Buttler said: "A little bit of both. I thought they played well as well. I thought we bowled a little bit without luck in the power play, a few close calls there.

"But, yes, I think the benefit of hindsight and reflecting, I would have got Moeen (Ali) in the game of course. So, yes, bits and pieces here and there," Buttler admitted.

When Rohit deployed close-in fielders, it felt like he was playing Test cricket in India. The ball was spinning brutally and remaining low.

"I think everyone knew what to expect from this wicket. I think traditionally the bounce is low. And yeah, I thought India played really well and they played the conditions better than we did."

Asked about their playing combination, Buttler said: "We thought long and hard about selection, about whether we kept the same balance that had been working well, or did we need four seamers on that particular wicket. That was a really tough call that we made and we ended up sticking with what we had."

"India played a really good game of cricket, whatever team or whatever happened at the toss -- they were going to be a tough team to beat and we had to be at our best if we were going to win the game and we were short of our best today."

Buttler believes that the final match between South Africa and India will be decided by narrow margins.

"The two top sides in the final is going to be a game of small margins and it's going to be a great game. Two really good teams," he said.

The Buttler-led team was on the verge of early elimination following a washout against Scotland and a loss to Australia in the group stage. They were only able to overcome one Test-playing country, the West Indies.

But Australia gave them a lifeline when they defeated Scotland, and they just about made it to the Super 8s by defeating Namibia under the DLS technique.

"Reaching a semi-final of a World Cup is an achievement. We wanted to obviously go all the way. That was what we came here for," said Buttler, who led them to the T20 World Cup title in 2022 after taking over white-ball captaincy from Eoin Morgan.

"We faced lots of challenges and adversity throughout the whole tournament and we've stuck together well and played well enough to get to this stage. But unfortunately, at this stage, we've fallen short."

"I think everyone has made progress and we've played well and not well enough, but I think the stuff that we've been doing behind the scenes, the way we've prepared, the way we've trained, the way we've played in patches has been really good.

"There's a lot of talent in the team. And yes, we came up against a top team today in these conditions," he said.

Asked if there would be fresh faces the next time, he said: "Yeah, I think... I can't do that. I haven't taken in the defeat. Very much thinking about this game and what happened and yeah, I think they say there's some time between today and the next matches, and we can see what happens."

On his future plans and whether he would stay on as captain until the Champions Trophy in Pakistan in February, he said: "To be honest, I'm just looking forward to some time away from the game.

"As I sit here, emotional after a loss, I don't need to dive too deep into it right now. I just look forward to some space from the game."

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