“Outdone” I wish Buttler had bowled Moeen on that deteriorating Providence pitch.

England captain Jos Buttler acknowledged that his side had been well outclassed in their 68-run loss to India in the Guyana T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final, but he maintained that his choice to bowl first after winning the toss had not had a major impact on the outcome.

Jos Buttler said that India’s total of 171 for 7, helped by his counterpart Rohit Sharma’s 57 from 39 balls and Suryakumar Yadav’s 47 from 36, was “20-25 runs too many” after giving up first use of a spin-friendly surface that was likely to get slower and lower throughout the day.

In response, Axar Patel delivered the match’s pivotal blow with his opening ball when Buttler top-edged a reverse-sweep to the keeper in the fourth over of the powerplay to leave England for 23 from 15. England were bowled out for 103 in precisely 100 deliveries.

Axar then removed Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow with the first ball of each of his next two overs, en route to winning Player of the Match with 3 for 23, before Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wristspin tore through an unprotected middle-order to finish with 3 for 19.

At the post-match press conference, Buttler declared, “They definitely outplayed us.” “I believe we may have given them too many runs—20 to 25. They played really well on that difficult surface. However, they were superior to us and deserved to win.”

Play was delayed by over an hour due to morning rain, which reappeared midway through India’s innings. England chose to stick with the seam-heavy lineup that had seen them through the Super Eight, keeping Chris Jordan and Reece Topley ahead of an extra spinner in Tom Hartley and Ben Duckett’s ability to turn the ball.

Ultimately, though, England’s selected spinners, Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone, proved to be the most effective weapons, giving up a combined 49 runs in their eight overs (6.13 rpo) as opposed to 12 overs for 120 (10 rpo) from the four quicks.

“With everything that’s happened throughout the whole tournament, we’re really proud of everyone’s efforts to be here”-Jos Buttler

But Moeen Ali went unnoticed, perhaps because of the wet circumstances in the first part of India’s innings. Buttler not only acknowledged that he had made a mistake by ignoring Moeen, but he also acknowledged that Rashid and Livingstone’s eventual impact had made him dread what India’s powerful spin attack could accomplish on the same surface.

Jos Buttler remarked, “They obviously have some fantastic spinners.”

“Our two lads bowled brilliantly, but looking back, given the way the spin was going, I should have put Moeen on in that innings.

“Obviously with the rain around in those conditions, I probably didn’t think it was going to change that much,” he said. “And to be honest, I don’t think it did. They, in my opinion, outbowled us. They scored higher than expected. Therefore, I don’t believe that the toss determined the outcome between the teams.”

The outcome was identical to England’s ten-wicket victory at the same stage of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Adelaide, as Buttler’s squad went on to become the first men’s team to simultaneously hold the world crowns in the 50- and 20-over categories.

The two trophies have now been removed from England’s possession. Although the team’s semi-final exit represents a marked improvement over their performance in the 50-over World Cup the previous year, England nonetheless leaves the competition having lost three of their four games against formidable opponents.

They needed favours to advance from the group stage after their early loss to Australia, and their narrow loss to South Africa in St Lucia condemned them to the more difficult semi-final draw, where India was waiting to exact revenge for their Adelaide result after what Rohit pointedly called a “satisfying” performance.

When asked about his team’s newfound success after two years, Buttler responded, “It’s very different in different conditions.” “India deserves the victory; they performed a really strong game of cricket.

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He continued, “With everything that’s happened throughout the whole tournament, we’re really proud of everyone’s efforts to be here,” remembering their tumultuous journey from Group 2, when they had only managed to play Namibia in a crucial encounter thanks to a late break in the clouds in Antigua.

“Only the person placed in front of you can play. Adversity has been a constant throughout the sport. We’ve played some excellent cricket in our moments together and as a team, but we haven’t performed properly when it counted.”