England white-ball captain Jos Buttler was initially going to miss the first few games in the upcoming T20I series in Pakistan but latest reports suggest he could sit out of the entire series to aid his recovery from an injury ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Buttler, who had taken over the reigns of the England ODI and T20I teams from Eoin Morgan earlier this summer, had picked up a calf injury while playing for the Manchester Originals in The Hundred. The niggle had cast a shadow over his participation in the T20Is in Pakistan, with all-rounder Moeen Ali set to lead the side in his absence.
Despite the niggle, Buttler was named in the squad for the Pakistan tour as he was expected to regain fitness in time to feature in the latter half of the series.
However, a report on The Daily Mail suggests his recovery might take longer than expected, and even if Buttler does get fit, will play no more than the last two matches of the series. The new white-ball captain has been advised by his medical team to not hasten his recovery and take things slowly.
Buttler also insisted on boarding the flight for the historic T20I series, which witnesses the English team returning to Pakistani soil after a gap of 17 years, as he wanted to develop a close working relationship with the white-ball coach Matthew Mott.
“Speaking to the physios, it is an injury that is not bad, but one that has a risk of recurrence. You don’t want to push it too soon, especially with what we have ahead. We have warm-up games in Australia so there is no desperate need to get as fit as possible. We’ve just got to take it as it comes,” said Buttler.
“As captain, coming back to Pakistan after a long time, I felt like it was important, whether I played the games or not,” Buttler added.
The first four matches of the T20I series will take place at Karachi’s National Stadium starting 20 September before the action shifts to Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium which hosts the next three games — on 28 and 30 September and 2 October respectively.
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