England all-rounder Sam Curran has backed underperforming Jos Buttler to come good against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Curran pointed out the quality Buttler possesses and hopes that Thursday night is his night. He also acknowledged how dangerous their opening pair Buttler and Phil Salt is. The southpaw said that the team is not worried about Buttler at all.
“Jos is someone I'm pretty close to. He obviously wants more runs. But I certainly would rather have Jos Buttler in my team than coming up against him on Thursday night. I think he's such a quality player. He's done so well for us over many, many years,” Curran said.
"And he's done well on this ground many, many times as well. So hopefully Thursday night is his night. But if it's not, there's no question he's one of the best in the world.
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"So him and Salty (Phil), such a dangerous opening partnership. And I guess we hope Thursday night they can get us off to a really good start There's no doubt that he'll come good and we're not worried about him at all," he added.
Brook stands by Buttler’s side too
Buttler The 35-year-old has had a horrible run this season. From seven innings, he has managed to score just 62 runs. His average is below nine and strike rate just over 100.
However, he is England’s leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup history and has immense experience playing at Wankhede Stadium, the venue for the final. Not just Curran, skipper Harry Brook has come in support of him as well. He feels that the opener should be left alone.
"I think Jos should be left alone. He is one of the best players to have ever played the game and I can see him coming good,” Brook told Sky Sports.
On March 5, Buttler needs just five runs to surpass Virat Kohli’s record for most runs in India-England T20I clashes. The experienced T20 campaigner is also the only current player with 1,000-plus runs in T20 World Cups.