Wicket didn't play exactly how we thought, admits Jos Buttler after loss to Afghanistan

New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) England captain Buttler admitted that the pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium didn’t play as per the thoughts of his team after being outclassed by Afghanistan by 69 runs to shake up the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup.

In the match on Sunday, Buttler opted to chase and retained his playing eleven from the victory over Bangladesh, days after India beat Afghanistan at the same venue, thanks to a four-fer from Jasprit Bumrah and a scintillating century from captain Rohit Sharma.

After bowling out Afghanistan for 284, England were never in the hunt to chase the total, being bowled out for 215 as Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman took three wickets each. Afghanistan’s upset win meant England crashed to their second defeat in three matches of the ongoing competition, leaving their title defence in a tricky situation.

“Having watched the first couple of games here obviously India went with the extra seamer as well in their lineup we thought the wicket would play similarly and maybe the dew would come in in the second half. But no, I think whichever line-up we had, we just weren't good enough and we didn't play well enough and full credit to Afghanistan, they deserve to win.”

“Look, we always want to play positive and be aggressive and some days you don't play as well as you want to. Though Afghanistan built good pressure on us, maybe the wicket didn't play exactly how we thought it would play and maybe the dew didn't come in as much as we thought as well.”

“Obviously, our spinners bowled really well there and Afghanistan have some brilliant spinners so that was always going to be tough but we just didn't manage to get the partnerships going that we wanted,” said a grim Buttler in the post-match press conference.

He went on to term the loss to Afghanistan as a big setback and called for his team to not lose their self-belief, with England now needing at least five wins from their six remaining league-stage matches to get an opportunity to reach the semifinals.

“It's a big setback obviously. Before the tournament starts you have a different idea of how the first three games would pan out. We've got to show a lot of character, a lot of resilience within the team and most of all a lot of belief. There was a lot of excellent players in there and we haven't played well enough, but we must keep that belief.”

“Everyone will be disappointed in the dressing room and sort of let that sink in but there's a lot of guys who've been through lots in their career in there as well and guys who've come back from tough situations and shown a lot of character and resilience, as I mentioned. It's a very tight-knit group, so we'll get around each other and pick each other up and dust ourselves down and go again.”

Harry Brook was the lone ranger with the bat for England with his gutsy 66, but Buttler rued the lack of partnerships on a pitch which slowed down in the second innings, as Afghanistan’s spinners took eight wickets between themselves.

“It probably wasn't exactly how we thought, but I think we just didn't manage to get the partnerships that we wanted. There was good value for your shots out there. I think as Harry Brook showed, if you got yourself in, you could score runs and play well.”

“We just didn't manage to chasing that kind of score. We needed a couple of big partnerships to chase it down and obviously it gets easier the more you get in and we just didn't manage to do that as individuals or as a team.”

Buttler also backed fast-bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes to come good after he conceded 41 runs from his four overs. In three World Cup games, Woakes has struggled to give control with the new ball for England, with his overall figures of 1-95 in 11 overs of bowling in the first power-play of the tournament.

“He's probably not performed as we know he can but he's a class player, he's been the leader of our attack for a very long time. He's performed extremely well over a long period of time and they're the guys you want in your team and you keep backing them.”