Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh reckons England skipper Jos Buttler has never looked so clueless. The English team suffered an ignominious defeat of eight wickets against Sri Lanka at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Thursday.
After deciding to bat first, England was skittled out for a paltry score of 156 runs as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Buttler has failed to lead from the front in the ongoing showpiece and he was dismissed after scoring only eight runs against the Islanders.
The right-hander has scored 95 runs in five matches at an average of 19 and a strike rate of 114.45 in the ongoing World Cup 2023.
As England’s bowling unit has also failed to deliver the goods, Buttler has looked helpless as a captain. The defending champions have managed a solitary win out of the five games they have played and they are at the penultimate position in the points table. They have been stunned by Afghanistan and Sri Lanka and have also suffered huge losses against New Zealand and South Africa.
“Jos Buttler has never looked so clueless,” Harbhajan said in his latest YouTube video. “Ben Stokes was asked to come out of retirement ahead of the World Cup but got injured. He has failed to make a significant impact in the matches he has played.”
The Turbanator added that England haven’t played like world champions as they have lacked intent with both bat and ball.
“England loved to chase in white-ball cricket and had batters who only dealt in fours and sixes,” he added. “However, forget about boundaries; they aren’t even sure of how to take singles. It seems as if they have forgotten how to play this format. They haven’t looked like world champions.”
Harbhajan feels England is not capable of beating in-form India and they will have to suffer another loss in their next game.
“England’s next match is against India. I don’t think they are capable of beating India, and they will have to deal with yet another loss. I feel it might be a spin-friendly surface, and we could see India play three spinners.”
England will next take on India at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow ion Sunday.
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