What should England do with struggling Buttler?

Mumbai, March 4 – England’s white-ball dynasty has been built on Jos Buttler’s blade, yet the sharpest edge in the squad has suddenly gone blunt. Five consecutive single-figure scores at the T20 World Cup, culminating in a two-ball duck against New Zealand, have left the defending champions confronting an uncomfortable question 24 hours before their semi-final: what do they do with the man who is statistically the greatest T20 batter the country has produced?

The raw numbers are stark. Seven innings, 62 runs, average 8.85. Forty-seven of those runs arrived in the opening week against Nepal (26) and the West Indies (21). In the five knocks since, Buttler’s sequence reads 3, 7, 3, 2, 0. On Monday night in Abu Dhabi he advanced down the wicket to Lockie Ferguson, misjudged the length and steered a simple catch behind, a dismissal that felt both shocking and inevitable.

England’s brains trust, led by captain Harry Brook, has publicly closed ranks. “He has played 150-odd T20Is for England, averaging nearly 34 with a strike-rate of 177,” Brook reiterated after the New Zealand win. “People maybe need to take a step back. He is probably the best white-ball batter to have played the game.” Brook’s message is clear: no axe is being sharpened.

Yet pragmatism must eventually collide with loyalty. The only specialist batter in England’s 15 is Ben Duckett, but the left-hander has not seen a T20 middle since a golden duck on February 3 and has not posted a significant short-format score since January. Dropping the skipper would be a gamble on a cold batsman against India or the West Indies in a knockout match—hardly ideal.

A demotion in the order offers a middle ground. Buttler’s career T20I record at No. 3 is respectable—36.61 across 16 innings—but Brook’s scintillating 50-ball hundred against Pakistan last week has entrenched him at first-drop. Everything below that is unfamiliar territory; Buttler has batted outside the top three only twice since 2018. Promoting Sam Curran, Jacob Bethell or Tom Banton to open alongside Phil Salt and sliding Buttler to No. 5 or 6 would shield him from the new ball while preserving his finishing prowess.

England’s tournament trajectory, however, argues against radical surgery. They have won four on the spin to reach the last four, and the middle order—Salt, Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone—has already delivered clutch performances. Changing a winning XI, particularly when the alternative is an out-of-practice Duckett, carries its own risk.

Inside the camp the mood remains defiantly supportive. Moeen Ali, Buttler’s long-time team-mate, insisted on Sky Sports that great players “turn up” when it matters most. “He definitely has the ability and he has to believe it is going to come,” Moeen said. “Somebody is not scoring runs until the last couple of games and that’s when the good players turn up.”

The clock is now ticking. Thursday’s semi-final at the Wankhede—likely against an in-form India or a buoyant West Indies—offers Buttler the perfect stage to silence the doubters. England have backed their man throughout the group phase; one virtuoso innings could render the debate obsolete and propel the holders into a Sunday final.

For the moment the plan is to stay the course: Buttler will open, the top three will remain unchanged, and the hope is that the sport’s most destructive white-ball batter rediscovers his timing when the stakes are highest. If he does not, England may yet pay for keeping faith with a champion who currently looks a shadow of himself.