White ball coach Matthew Mott says England will not "take a risk" on captain Jos Buttler ahead of the T20 World Cup, with the 32-year-old continuing his recovery from injury.
Buttler has been out of action since August after picking up a calf strain while playing for Manchester Originals in The Hundred. He has not yet featured in England's seven match T20I series against Pakistan, with Moeen Ali deputising as skipper in his absence.
However, Mott says Buttler is "champing at the bit for a game" and could feature in the final two matches in Lahore. The series is currently level at 2-2 and Mott was asked about Buttler's fitness after Pakistan won the fourth T20I by just three runs.
"With regard to Jos, he's still a while off, he's not a player we want to take a risk on at this stage, so close to the World Cup, and it was a reasonably significant injury that he had," Mott said in his post match press conference
"So, he's champing at the bit for a game, but we'll just try and see how we go and maybe in the last game or two we might give him a chance."
Heading into the World Cup, Buttler believes his side are "dangerous", but insists they are not favourites to go all the way and lift the trophy.
"When you look ahead, there's ICC events pretty much every year so there's always stuff to build towards, there's always exciting times," Buttler told Sky Sports. "I think this World Cup coming up now is actually a bit of a free hit for us, it's very early in our time as a team.
"We've got a squad full of match winners and I think that's an exciting place to be as a T20 team looking ahead to that World Cup.
"We by no means go there as favourites, but I feel like we'll be a dangerous team that sides wouldn't want to play against."
