Jos Buttler says playing for England is priority as IPL clashes with Pakistan series

England skipper Jos Buttler has said that he prioritises playing for the national side and that international cricket shouldn't clash with the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"As an England captain, my main priority is to be playing for England," Buttler said while supporting the England Cricket Board's (ECB) decision to recall the players who were part of the T20 World Cup from the IPL 2024 for the four-match T20 series against Pakistan set to commence from today.

Among those who had to leave the Indian league early ahead of the tournament's playoffs were Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Reece Topley, Phil Salt, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, and Buttler.

"It's my personal opinion that there shouldn't be any international cricket that clashes with the IPL.

"I think that these games have been on the calendar for a long time. Of course, leading into a World Cup, your number one priority is playing for England and performing for England. I feel like this is the best preparation," he added.

Earlier, Sam Curran also backed the ECB's decision to call the players back and said: "It was a decision that was made, that it was probably the right thing for us all to come back. It was only fair for all franchises to lose a player each or so. It would have been quite harsh if some franchises got to keep a couple of players and then some didn't.

“I think Buttler, Motty [Matthew Mott] and Keysy [Rob Key] wanted us all back together for this series. It makes great sense because obviously, we want to be playing as a team and get used to our roles. It's quite hard when you go tournament to tournament, and then straight into a big tournament like [the World Cup] where you haven't really played together."

Schedule

May 22 — First T20I at Leeds

May 25 — Second T20I at Birmingham

May 28 — Third T20I at Cardiff

May 30 — Fourth T20I at The Oval

England squad

Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.

Pakistan squad

Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Khan