Dissecting Jos Buttler's disastrous 2026 T20 World Cup campaign
What's the story
England's campaign at the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup 2026 came to an end on Thursday. In a thrilling semi-final at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, the Brits lost to India by seven runs. Meanwhile, the tournament was a forgettable one for Jos Buttler, who is widely regarded as England's greatest ever white-ball cricketer. On this note, let's dissect his disastrous run in the 2026 T20 WC.
DYK
An average of 10.87 at the event
Buttler made 25 runs in the semi-final before falling to Varun Chakravarthy. As per ESPNcricinfo, he finished the tournament with 87 runs across eight innings at a strike rate of 116. His average of 10.87 is the second-worst for a batter who opened at least six times in a T20 WC edition. Buttler is marginally ahead of Bangladesh's Tanzid Hasan, who averaged 10.85 across seven innings in the 2024 edition.
Struggles
Highest score of 26
Buttler's 26 in England's opener against Nepal turned out to be his best score in the edition. His next outing resulted in 21 runs against West Indies. The England star then failed to enter double digits in five back-to-back games - 3, 3, 7, 2, and 0. As his last outing against India resulted in 25 runs, Buttler even failed to touch the 30-run mark even once.
Failure
Comparison to last events
Notably, Buttler was on a roll in the last four T20 WC editions - 2016, 2021, 2022, and 2024. His averages in these events were 47.75, 89.66, 45, and 42.8, respectively. Hence, the downgrade in 2026 was indeed jaw-dropping. Overall, Buttler's tally of 1,100 T20 WC runs is the third-most for any batter. His average reads 42.20 with the strike rate being 144.16 (50s: 5, 100: 1).