Jos Buttler in action for England© AFP
There has been a lot of chatter over England players not playing in the IPL 2024 playoffs to join the national team for the series against Pakistan just ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024. Former England captain Michael Vaughan criticised the England Cricket Board (ECB) as he thought the IPL would have been a better place for preparation than facing Pakistan. He was even supported by former Pakistan cricketer Kamran Akmal. Following England’s 2-0 series win over Pakistan on Thursday, another former England captain Nasser Hussain also joined the competition and praised the IPL for setting up the players for big games and providing them brilliant practice to play in front of big crowds.
“They’re a very balanced side, they’ve played in a lot of big games. We don’t talk enough about the IPL and how that obviously sets you up as a cricketer but also sets you up in big games. And under pressure and big crowds and that’s what you need going into a World Cup. So they’ve done all that they could do,” said Hussain on Sky Sports.
Hussain further said that the England cricket team look balanced ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024 but they will need to
“They’ve just got to be better than they were at that 50-over World Cup. They went into that with a lot of hope and it didn’t start well and they didn’t react well. So they need to have a Plan B. If we don’t start well, if things don’t go well, how do we react? How do we react to slower pitches? How do we react when better sides come up against us? But under Buttler and what they’ve got in this side they’re in a real good place. They just got to go and do it,” he added.
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