For Jos Buttler, whether players’ families should be by their side during long tours is a “loaded question”.
On a serious note, though, the England white-ball captain minced no words to say it’s “great” to have players’ families joining them on tours.
“Yeah, I think it’s important. We live in a day and age which is a very modern world, and I think it’s great to be able to have families on tours with you and you just enjoy that. And enjoy, not just for you as a player, but to live that life out with your family as well,” Buttler said on Tuesday.
Buttler’s views came at a time when the Indian Board has implemented a 10-point guideline for its cricketers on family travel policy, which says that “players absent from India for more than 45 days during overseas tours can be joined by their partners and children (under-18) for one visit per series (format-wise) of up to a two-week period.”
Talking further on the matter, the England skipper said: “As you mentioned, there’s a lot of cricket these days and people spend a long time away from home, and I think post-Covid all that has been highlighted as well.
“I don’t think it affects the cricket too much, though. I think it’s something very manageable. Personally, from my point of view, I think it’s really important to try and be able to share that with your family and lighten the load of being away from home.”
Individually, for Buttler, this is one series where he will certainly look to make an impact with the bat after being off-colour in the 2023 ODI World Cup and falling short of being at his devastating best in last year’s T20 showpiece.
“I’m just looking forward to playing some games in what’s going to be a really exciting T20I series followed by a few (three) ODIs,” he said.
With Buttler slated to bat at No.3, keeper-batter Phil Salt and Ben Duckett will open while Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and the impressive Jacob Bethell are set to bat at Nos. 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Leg-spinner Adil Rashid is the lone specialist tweaker in the bowling attack, which also features quicks Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton.
During Tuesday’s training session at the Eden, all England batters were seen facing left-arm spin (from net bowlers) for a fair amount of time. In last year’s T20 Cup semi-final at the Providence Stadium (in Guyana), India vice-captain and left-arm spinner Axar Patel had caused England plenty of problems with his 3/23. Maybe that’s still playing
on their minds.