Buttler becomes first Englishman to go past 1000 runs in T20 World Cups

Jos Buttler, on June 27 (Thursday), became the first England and overall fourth batter to go past 1000 runs in the T20 World Cups. The England captain went past the landmark against India in the semi-final of the 2024 T20 World Cup at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.

Chasing a target of 172, Buttler walked out to bat with full intent. The wicketkeeper-batter got a boundary off India’s ace paceman Jasprit Bumrah in the second over before slamming Arshdeep Singh for three fours in the very next over.

Buttler, however, couldn’t carry on and got out to Axar Patel on the first ball of the fourth over. He tried to reverse sweep the left-arm spinner but could only top-edge it to Rishabh Pant behind the stumps. Buttler scored 23 off 15, and it was enough to take him past 1000 runs in the tournament. 

Playing his sixth T20WC, Buttler now has 1013 runs across 34 innings at an average of 42.21 and a strike rate of 147.2. Only Virat Kohli (1216), Rohit Sharma (1211) and Mahela Jayawardene (1016) have more runs than Buttler in the competition's history. 

But what makes Buttler stand out is his strike rate. Amongst 15 batters who have more than 600 runs in the T20 World Cups, Buttler has the best strike rate (147.2). 

When it comes to the most runs scored for England in the T20WCs, Kevin Pietersen is second on the list, with 580 runs across 15 innings at an average of 44.62 and a strike rate of 148.3.

In this year’s WC, Buttler has scored 214 runs across seven innings at an average of 42.8 and a strike rate of 158.5. In the last four editions of the 20-over showpiece event, not once has Buttler operated at an average of less than 42.

In this T20WC, Buttler got 42 against Australia but then managed scores of 24*, 0, 25 and 17 in the next four innings. He returned back to his absolute best against the USA, smoking 83* off 38 deliveries in Bridgetown.  

It was under Buttler’s leadership England won the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. The defending champions, however, didn’t have a great start to the 2024 edition. 

Their first match against Scotland was washed out. England then lost to Australia by 36 runs before defeating Oman and Namibia by massive margins to qualify for the Super 8s. 

England started the second round with a win against the West Indies before losing to South Africa. Buttler and his men then got the better of the USA and confirmed their spot in the semis. 

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