England's Buttler Defends ECB's IPL Withdrawal for Pakistan Series

Jos Buttler, England's T20I captain, has defended the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) decision to withdraw players from the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs for the upcoming T20I series against Pakistan. However, he believes that international cricket should not overlap with the IPL, the world's premier franchise league.

Buttler, along with seven other members of England's provisional T20 World Cup squad, left the IPL before the end of the group stage. Four of these players, including Buttler, represented franchises that qualified for the knockouts. England's players returned to Leeds on Saturday night ahead of Wednesday's opening T20I.

Rob Key, the managing director of England men's cricket, stated that Buttler had driven the decision to bring players home from India. He emphasized the importance of the squad spending time together before traveling to the Caribbean.

Buttler explained his reasoning, saying, "As an England captain, my main priority is to be playing for England. I think that these games have been in 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."

Buttler's absence has left a significant void in his franchise, Rajasthan Royals. Tom Kohler-Cadmore was brought in for the final two group games but has struggled to make an impact.

Other national boards have taken a different approach. West Indies and South Africa have both missed players for their T20I series due to IPL commitments. Ireland allowed Josh Little to remain in India during their recent series against Pakistan.

Key has stated that the ECB tried to keep the situation fluid with players before deciding to bring them home. However, there has been some criticism in India about the early return of English players.

Sanjay Bangar, the head of cricket development at Punjab Kings, claimed that the ECB had assured them that all players would be available before the December auction. However, as ESPNcricinfo reported, this was always subject to fitness, international duty, and any periods of unavailability submitted by players on their auction applications.

The dates for England's T20I series against Pakistan were announced in July 2023 and have been in the ICC's Future Tours Programme since August 2022. In contrast, the BCCI only finalized the IPL's fixture list for the 2024 season after the tournament had started.

Sam Curran, who captained Punjab in eight of his 13 appearances this season, believes the ECB's decision was justified. He said, "It was a decision that was made, that it was probably the right thing for us all to come back. It was only fair for all franchise to lose a player each or so… it would have been quite harsh if some franchises got to keep a couple of players and then some didn't."

The Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA) will hold a global scheduling symposium for members later this year. CEO Tom Moffat revealed that a recent player survey showed widespread support for international and franchise 'windows', as proposed by Buttler.

Tags: #JosButtler, #ECB, #IPL, #T20I, #EnglandCricket