England captain Jos Buttler acknowledged that his team was outclassed by India in the T20 World Cup semifinals at Providence Stadium. The defending champions fell short in their chase of 171, with the spin duo of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav proving too challenging. Buttler candidly admitted post-match that in hindsight, he should have utilized Moeen Ali, the other spinner in England’s ranks.
On a pitch that progressively became low and slow, offering consistent turn, Buttler decided to field first. While he didn’t regret the decision at the toss, he later conceded that India managed to score at least 20-25 runs more than what was considered par, attributing it to failures in both planning and execution.
“A little bit of both. I thought they played well as well,” Buttler remarked. “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.
“Yeah, disappointing. I think we were outplayed by India. They fully deserved the victory. So, yeah, I thought 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.”
England’s two spinners for the day, Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone, had respectable figures of 1 for 49 from eight overs. However, the pacers struggled, conceding 120 runs from 12 overs at 10 runs per over. In stark contrast, India’s spinners bowled 11 overs, taking 6 wickets for just 58 runs.
Axar Patel was particularly devastating, dismissing Buttler with his first delivery and then taking the wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali in his subsequent overs. Kuldeep Yadav compounded England’s problems by taking three wickets, effectively derailing their chase.
“Obviously, they’ve got some fantastic spinners,” Buttler said. “Our two guys bowled well, but in hindsight, I should have brought Moeen [on] in that innings, with the way that the spin was playing. Obviously with the rain around in those conditions, I probably didn’t think it was going to change that much,” he added. “And I actually don’t think it really did. I thought they out-bowled us. They had an above-par score. So I don’t think necessarily the toss was the difference between the teams.”
The defeat marked a disappointing end to England’s campaign, as they failed to mount a strong defense of their title for the second consecutive time in eight months. This semifinal appearance was an improvement over their 50-over World Cup campaign in India last year, but England managed to beat only one Test-playing nation, West Indies, in this tournament. Their journey to the semifinals was also nearly derailed in a rain-affected clash against Namibia before they secured a win when the weather cleared.
“Yes, I think 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. 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,” Buttler reflected.
England will now look to regroup and reassess their strategies as they prepare for future tournaments. Meanwhile, India progresses to the final, showing their strengthand authority as a side in a dominant semifinal performance.
