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As England's star batter Jos Buttler concludes his white-ball captaincy stint, the once limited-overs giants have been left with more questions than answers and their players in dire need of proper guidance, wins, crucial runs and wickets under their belt as the journey to the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup reaches the halfway stage.
Reckless hitting, unremarkable strike rotation, underwhelming bowling and staleness- this was the summary of Buttler's final match as white-ball skipper as it ended on a poor note with a seven-wicket loss to South Africa in the last league stage match of Champions Trophy 2025. England has bowed out of the competition with zero wins in three games. The Three Lions once again find themselves in a position too familiar, asking themselves the same question: Has their white-ball game evolved the right way? After Eoin Morgan helped England win their first-ever World Cup title in 2019, it seemed England had finally cracked the ODI code after years of underwhelming performances by playing more positively and aggressively, leaving all inhibitions and fears behind. Be it attacking batters, batters who could take the anchor role, bowlers who could bowl express pace of above 140 kmph, dominate the middle overs and spinners who could shame and bamboozle the world's best, all boxes were ticked for England. But then, Morgan shocked the cricketing world after announcing his retirement from international cricket in mid-2022, months before England started their T20 World Cup campaign in Australia. A T20 World Cup in 2022 did come under Buttler's first big assignment as a major captain, but a double world championship reign was attained thanks to the presence of Morgan's Men, who helped laid foundation of their initial white-ball success, such as Alex Hales, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Buttler himself. What transpired after that has made the T20 World Cup win look like a one-off fluke. In the last one and the half years, England has secured, a seventh spot finish in the 2023 World Cup in India, a semifinal finish in the ICC T20 World Cup (that was attained despite some far-from-convincing performances against Scotland in a rained out match, Australia and South Africa, with losses to Aussies and Proteas) and a zero-win campaign in the ICC Champions Trophy. Throughout these tournaments, England's batting and bowling have stood exposed in quality conditions, particularly against strong rivals Australia and India. Buttler ends his less than remarkable run as ODI captain with 18 wins, 26 losses and one no result in 45 ODIs, with a win-loss ratio of 0.692. Of the 14 England captains who have led in at least 15 ODIs, his win-loss ratio is the second-lowest. The fact that some of the strongest white-ball players in the world could not work as a group in the 2023 WC and 2025 CT made things worse for Buttler. In T20Is, Buttler has fared slightly better, with 26 wins, 22 losses and three no results. Their win-loss ratio is 1.181. But after the T20 World Cup triumph, Buttler's men have failed to deliver anything of note in T20Is. These figures include 14 white-ball matches he led England in as a stand-in captain from 2015-2022 in the absence of their regular captain. Ever since he took up the captaincy full-time from June 2022, his numbers have been extremely underwhelming, both as a captain and a batter. These make for an interesting case study and put Jos's status as an all-time great under serious questions. In 36 ODIs he has led England since 2022, Buttler could win just 12, lost 23 and one ended in a no result. The win-loss ratio has been extremely poor, the worst-ever for an England full-time captain in ODIs, at 0.521. Numbers are way better in T20Is, with 23 wins, 20 losses and three no-results in 46 T20Is he captained in since 2022. The win-loss ratio here is 1.150. A team is as good as its leader. The statement is indeed true in Buttler's case. Though the right-handed hitter is considered the best limited-overs cricket batter produced by England and has a strong record to prove it, his full-time captaincy stint has dented his credentials to be the best. Since taking up captaincy full-time in 2022, Buttler's ODI numbers have tanked. In 36 ODIs, he has scored 1,076 runs at an average of 32.60 and a strike rate of 97.60, with just one century and six fifties in 35 innings, with best score of 131. Compare it to the matches where he has played without the burden of captaincy, in which he has scored 3,783 runs at an average of 40.67 and a strike rate of 121.36, with 10 centuries and 17 fifties and best score of 162*. His T20I numbers face no serious dents despite captaincy since 2022 though, having made 1,395 runs in 46 matches and 43 innings at an average of 36.71 and a strike rate of over 155, with 11 fifties and best score of 84. As a non-captain, he has scored 1,969 runs in 83 T20Is at an average of 34.54, with a century and 14 fifties at a strike rate of over 142. Overall, since assuming full-time captaincy in 2022, Buttler has scored 2,471 runs in 82 international matches at an average of 34,80, hitting just one century and 17 fifties in 78 innings, with the best score of 131. It is his performances in big tournaments which have hurt the right-handed batter. After finishing as fourth-highest run-getter in T20 WC 2022 winning campaign with 225 runs in six matches at an average of 45.00, strike rate of 144.23 and two fifties, Buttler has struggled at the grandest stages mostly, with a shockingly silent WC 2023 in India (138 runs in nine matches at an average of 15.33 and best score of 43), an underwhelming T20 WC 2024 with average-boosters against minnows Oman and USA (knocks of 24* and 83* respectively), giving him a total of 214 runs in seven innings at an average of 42.80, with a fifty and strike rate of 158.51 and a fully off-colour Champions Trophy with just 82 runs in three matches at an average of 27.33, with strike rate of just above 77 and best score of 38. Buttler's all-time statistics in ICC ODI tournaments have taken a big hit due to these recent poor performances. In 23 ODI WC innings, he averages 26.86, scoring 591 runs with just one century and three fifties. Coming to Champions Trophy, he averages just 23.87, scoring 191 runs in 10 innings with just two fifties. His performances in India, a key test for any English batter over the years, have taken a shocking dip since his appointment as a full-time captain in 2022. In 17 international matches in India since then, Buttler has scored just 376 runs at a poor average of 22.11, with just two half-centuries and strike rate of 104.73. Notably, India is among the countries Buttler has toured the most after taking up full time captaincy. His tours to India have had the most significance, one being for the World Cup title defence in 2023 and the other one being the final assignment before the Champions Trophy 2025. Overall as a batter touring other nations since taking up full-time captaincy, Buttler has scored 1,907 runs at an average of 35.98 and a strike rate of 122.87, with a century and 14 fifties. While these numbers are respectable, the inconsistency displayed in 20 innings across WC 2023, T20 WC 2024 and CT 2025 could have very well earned him a tag of 'bilateral bully' who just fails to make his mark on big stages. As England heads into a captaincy transition, Buttler will have to sort his batting form out and rediscover the fearlessness and confidence which made him one of the most feared batters in the world. After the match against South Africa in CT 2025, Buttler expressed hope to become one of the best in the business again following a liberation from captaincy, saying, "Joe Root has been a shining light and a great example for us. After relinquishing his captaincy, he has played brilliantly and hopefully, I can follow in his footsteps." Can Buttler pull off a redemption act with the bat one last time for sake of his white-ball legacy? (ANI)
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