‘We are really blessed with bowlers England have’- Jos Buttler ahead of Kolkata T20I

Jos Buttler will captain the English team. The visitors, who have already announced their playing eleven for the forthcoming match, have a potent bowling assault that might perhaps threaten the Indians.

On Wednesday, January 22, India and England will play their first match of the five-match Twenty20 International series at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Suryakumar Yadav will captain the Indian team during the series, which will be followed by three One-Day Internationals.

Jos Buttler spoke to the media prior to the game and explained the functions of the bowlers in the team, who can also have a big impact with the bat. The England captain went on to say that their collective attack style gives them great depth in a variety of areas.

We can be extremely aggressive and, you know, not worry too much about our wicket because we have others behind us who can do exactly the same thing. That (the squad) gives a lot of depth to the XI and gives the guys at the top confidence that there’s enough [of batting] to come,” Buttler said.

With regard to the bowlers we have on this tour, we are truly fortunate. They’re all incredibly talented batters. Look at players like Gus Atkinson, who has a Test century, Brydon Carse, who is a great ball batter, and Adil Rashid, who is ranked at number 11 [No. 10 on the team sheet for the first Twenty20 International], who has several first-class hundreds. In that regard, I believe we’re quite lucky because many of our bowlers are extremely talented batters,” the captain continued.

Jos Buttler presents Jacob Bethell with a new task.

The cricket player for the Three Lions also emphasised the strength that young player Jacob Bethell had. Notably, this will be Bethell’s first trip to India as an English cricket player. He made his debut in the format in September 2024. Given that the series will be followed by the crucial ICC Champions Trophy, Buttler believes the tour might present a significant challenge for the young player.

“Coming to play in India is a new challenge for him, but I can tell he’s looking forward to it.” Even when he was playing for the Under-19s, I believe he has been spoken about for a while in English cricket because of his talent. You would hear people talking about him, so you knew he was going to be a unique player. And I believe that he deserves all the credit. The wicketkeeper-batter said, “I think he’s done brilliantly well coming into international cricket.”