T20 World Cup: Don’t want to see India vs Pakistan final, says Buttler

It is semi-final time in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. Fans around the world want to see an Indian versus Pakistan final but England captain Jos Buttler is out to spoil it.

New Zealand will face Pakistan in the first last-four game today (November 9) and tomorrow it will be India versus England.

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Speaking to the media ahead of the game at the Adelaide Oval, Buttler said, “Well, we certainly don’t want to see an India-Pakistan final, so we’ll be trying all we can do to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

India versus Pakistan is one of the most watched games. Already, the two teams have met once in the Super 12 stage with the result going in favour of India, thanks to Virat Kohli’s heroics at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on October 23.

Talking about the Indian team, Buttler said it was a “very strong team”.

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“No, not at all,” he replied when a journalist said India doesn’t have that “intimidating aura” in knockout games over the last few the way they have performed.

He continued, “I think India is a very, very strong team. I think Indian teams have been consistently strong for a long period of time, and naturally so with the amount of depth and talent that is in the Indian game. There are some fantastic players in their line-up. You get to a semi-final of any competition, you expect to be playing against a really tough team, and India will certainly be that.”

When asked about in-form Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav, Buttler heaped praised on the right-hander but added that England was not thinking about just one batsman in the semi-final.

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“He (Suryakumar) has been great to watch, hasn’t he. I think he is someone who has probably been the batter of the tournament so far in terms of the way you want to watch someone go about it. I think his biggest strength looks to be the amount of freedom he plays with. I think he’s obviously got all the shots, but he allows himself to play all the shots, as well. He’s got a very free mindset from what I can see,” Buttler said.

“But as with any batsman in the world, it takes one chance to create a wicket. We desperately need to find a way to do that, and it would be remiss just to think about him. I think they have some other excellent players, as well,” he added.