By Shrivathsa Sridhar
BENGALURU (Reuters) – England skipper Jos Buttler described his team’s thumping World Cup loss to Sri Lanka on Thursday as a “huge low point” with the team’s title defence in tatters and their hopes of reaching the semi-finals all but over.
A lot was expected of England heading into the tournament after their 2019 heroics on home soil but the team have failed to deliver and the eight-wicket thrashing at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium was their third straight loss and fourth overall.
“We’re a really good team, done a lot of good things in the recent past in white-ball cricket and 50-over cricket,” Buttler told reporters. “We get on the plane with high hopes and a lot of confidence and belief that we can challenge for the title.
“So, to be sat here… is a shock to everyone. I’ll walk back in the dressing room after this and look at the players sat there and think how we found ourselves in this position with the talent and the skill that’s in the room.
“But it’s the position we’re in, it’s the reality of what’s happened over the last three weeks and that’s a huge low point.”
Questions will inevitably be asked about Buttler’s captaincy but he said he was the right man to lead the team through their current struggles.
“I think you’re always questioning as captain how you can get the best out of players, how you can get the team moving in the right direction,” Buttler said.
“I certainly have a lot of confidence and belief in myself as a leader and captain and first and foremost as a player, but if you’re asking if I should still be captaining the team, that’s a question for the guys above me.”
England face the daunting task of playing unbeaten hosts India on Sunday and Buttler said they were determined to get back to playing good cricket.
“It looks like it could need a few miracles that we’d have to win every game and things go our way to progress further in this tournament,” Buttler said.
“But for the games that we have left, we want to play the cricket we know we can play.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
