Leeds [UK], May 22 : England white-ball captain Jos Buttler said that the international cricket matches should not be clashing with the Indian Premier League (IPL) and for him leading up to the ICC T20 World Cup this year starting from June 1 this year in West Indies and USA, the number one priority is to play for England.

All major England players like Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Buttler etc left their respective Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise before playoffs and conclusion of the league stage, to participate in England’s four-match T20I series against Pakistan at home, which starts with the first T20I at Leeds on Wednesday.

Speaking ahead of the game, which also marks the day when his IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) will play Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), he defended England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) decision to pull the World Cup-bound players away from the cash-rich league. He also said that such clashes between international and franchise cricket should not be happening.

“I said, ‘Look, as an England captain, my main priority is to be playing for England’. It is my personal opinion that there should not be any international cricket that clashes with the IPL,” said Buttler as quoted by Wisden.

“I think that these games have been in the calendar for a long time. Of course, leading into a World Cup, your number priority is playing for England and performing for England. I feel like this is the best preparation,” he added.

Several other countries have conducted and will have international matches during IPL 2024, including South Africa, West Indies, Ireland and Bangladesh. Different boards have taken different approaches to the IPL, with Bangladesh recalling their pacer Mustafizur Rahman for a series against the USA while South Africa and West Indies have let players continue to play the IPL.

England announced their squad for the T20 World Cup in April. The same squad will be travelling for the four-match T20I series against Pakistan, which will commence on May 22.

All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until May 25, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC’s Event Technical Committee.

England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.

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