Mumbai, March 3 Runs have been drying up from Jos Buttler's bat at ICC events recently, but England are banking on their white-ball great to deliver a match-winning knock against India in the second T20 World Cup semifinal here on Thursday.
Buttler had a forgettable ODI World Cup in India in 2023, and nothing has gone according to plan for the 35-year-old in the T20 World Cup, including the 2025 edition, in a country where he has scored a lot of runs in the IPL.
England are not worried about his form, but to put his lean run in perspective, he has only managed a single fifty-plus score in his last four ICC events, including the 2023 ODI World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup, and the Champions Trophy last year.
The pitches, which have been on the slower side in this event, especially in Sri Lanka, have also not aided his style of play.
Two days before the semifinal at Wankhede, Buttler had an hour-long net session where he tried to find his rhythm against the spinners.
Adil Rashid, Will Jacks, and Liam Dawson provided good practice to the out-of-form opener, who may well rediscover his mojo at a ground he is very familiar with.
He attempted slog sweeps off Rashid, targeted the straight boundary against left-arm spinner Dawson, and sent the ball to the cow corner region when Jacks rolled his arm over.
After facing the England spinners, Buttler moved to the other side of the main square to face throwdowns.
Ahead of the training session, all-rounder Sam Curran backed his close friend to come good against India.
"Jos is someone I'm pretty close to. He obviously wants more runs. But I certainly would rather have Jos Buttler in my team than facing him on Thursday night. I think he's such a quality player. He's done so well for us over many, many years.
"And he's done well on this ground many, many times as well. So hopefully Thursday night is his night. But if it's not, there's no question he's one of the best in the world.
"So him and Salty (Phil), such a dangerous opening partnership. And I guess we hope Thursday night they can get us off to a really good start. There's no doubt that he'll come good and we're not worried about him at all," added Curran.
Curran's comments echoed the views of his teammates, including captain Harry Brook, who feels Buttler is in a bit of a slump but it is only a matter of time before he fires.
"There's been a lot said about Jos. I said the other day that he's played 150 (154) games for England (in T20Is) and people probably need to take a little step back from that. He's probably the best white-ball player to have ever played the game.
"He's in a little bit of a slump now, but I think that's an exciting thing for everybody in the world to know what he could produce in the next couple of games," Brook had said after the game against New Zealand in Colombo.
For now, England are strongly keeping the faith in their most experienced batter.
