In the semi-finals, England’s quest to defend their title in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was halted by Rohit Sharma‘s team.
England fell short against India, suffering a 68-run defeat, and captain Jos Buttler quickly acknowledged their opponents’ superiority. “India certainly outplayed us,” he admitted after the match. “We maybe let them get 20-25 runs too many. It was a challenging surface that they played well on.”
Buttler, who won the toss and chose to bowl, did not blame the defeat on this decision. “They outbowled us and had an above-par score,” he noted. “I don’t think the toss was the difference between the teams. It was always going to be a tough chase.”
Reflecting on the target of 172, Buttler acknowledged the difficulty of the task. “It was always going to be a tough chase,” he reiterated.
Regarding England’s overall performance in the tournament, which included defeats to Australia, South Africa, and now India, Buttler expressed pride in his team’s efforts. “Really proud of everyone’s efforts to be here. You can only play who’s put in front of you. We’ve had lots of adversity throughout the competition, we’ve stuck together well as a group, played some really good cricket in patches, but come up short when we needed it most.”
In the post-match press conference, Buttler further emphasized the challenge posed by India. “Whatever team [we picked], whatever happened at the toss, they were going to be a tough team to beat, and we had to be at our best if we were going to win the game. We were short of our best today.”
