England captain Jos Buttler said that his team is "very ready" to begin their hunt for the second T20 World title, as they are set to kickstart their ICC T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against Afghanistan on Saturday (October 22) in Perth.
He admitted that Australia is the firm favorite to retain the T20 World Cup if one has to pick one favorite team, but people should not take England lightly, as this is very much a new era for the English white-ball team and they are a very dangerous side in the tournament.
Jos Buttler said at the pre-match press conference, “We are in a good spot. We have had really good games in the last 10 matches and played some really good cricket. On the eve of the tournament, we are very ready.”
On being asked whether England should be considered as favorites for the title, Buttler said: “No, far from it, to be honest. I think we are a dangerous team; we have got a lot of talented players who can win games on their own and that's a huge thing in T20 cricket. If you had to choose one (favorite) then it has to be Australia in their own conditions and being reigning champions.”
The England captain further urged his boys not to look back at what they have done in the past, and to start from the beginning to achieve laurels for the side. He further explained, “I mentioned it to the players a lot but this is very much a new era for the English white-ball team. A lot of them played in the past era but it's very much about looking forward now for this group.
Not to spend too much energy looking backward. I think it's really important to be that forward-facing sort of team talking about the future a lot, and that starts with tomorrow.”
Buttler said that England is placed with Afghanistan, Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka in Group 1, and Buttler said that they can’t take anyone lightly because of the ruthless nature of the format.
He signed off by saying, “Only just how ruthless the format is and how much importance there is on every single game. South Africa didn't go through from our group having won four out of five games (last year) so it's a really tough format. It's incredibly competitive and we know that, we expect that.”
(With AFP Inputs)
