MUMBAI: England captain Jos Buttler is laconic and unflappable at most times. If you take a poll for the quietest 'keepers going around the world, Buttler and Australia's Alex Carey could feature in the top two. The 33-year-old was his calm self at the pre-match press conference on the eve of the team's mega World Cup clash against South Africa on Saturday.
One could sense a semblance of excitement in his voice though when he mentioned playing at the megapolis' cricketing epicentre. Buttler has 746 runs from 23 IPL innings here playing for Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at an average of 35.52 and a strike-rate of 146.27. He also has 148 international runs in two Test knocks and three T20Is. Saturday will be his first ODI here and it's a venue that Buttler is happy coming back to. "I think this is one of the great grounds in India. I love playing cricket here. It's a fantastic cricket wicket and should suit us," Buttler said, his with his eyes lighting up.
The ground also brings back happy memories of what Buttler recalls as one of his favourite games, the T20 World Cup contest in 2016 against Saturday's opponents where England chased down 229 with two balls to spare. It gave the fans and the world an idea of where England's white-ball cricket, under Eoin Morgan was heading.
"It's one of my favourite games and I think it had a lot of value in terms of where we were going as a team and the direction we wanted to play. I have great memories of that night," Buttler asserted.
England need to rediscover that style by shunning their inhibition with the bat to make a comeback in this World Cup. Buttler knows that and hence he insisted on playing the England way. "We've had some good conversations about how we want to play our cricket, how we want to commit to the style that we play. And that's always more important than the results."
Buttler insisted about the need to move on from the loss suffered against Afghanistan and make a fresh start in Mumbai. "We've very much moved on and we're fully focused on the game tomorrow night. We can't change what happened in the previous game," he stressed.
The keeper-bat also celebrated the unpredictability of sport while referring to the upsets suffered by England and South Africa in their previous games. "I think you're always surprised when those kinds of things happen. But that's why sport is fantastic. It throws up these upsets."
