Jos Buttler addresses criticism after England slammed for skipping practice during ODI series against India

England captain Jos Buttler has responded to criticism over his team allegedly skipping training sessions during their recently-concluded tour of India. England suffered a humiliating 3-0 whitewash against India on Wednesday after they lost the third and final ODI by a massive margin of 142 runs. Earlier, England lost the first two ODIs by 4 wickets each. In the five-match T20I series against India, England went down 4-1.

During the third ODI, former India head coach Ravi Shastri mentioned in the commentary that England had practiced only once during the entire trip. Following the match in Ahmedabad, ex-England captain Kevin Pietersen also blasted Buttler’s side for their lack of practice.

Jos Buttler responds to criticism

Speaking about England’s approach, Buttler defended his team’s decision, insisting that their training schedule was carefully planned to balance workload and performance.

“I’m not sure that’s quite true but to be honest we had a reasonably long tour, with a few long travel days. There have been a couple of times we have not trained, but we have certainly done plenty of training throughout the tour. We obviously try and create a really good environment, but don’t mistake that for a lazy environment or lack of effort. The guys are desperate to perform, do well, and improve,” Buttler said.

Kevin Pietersen had revealed that the England team had only one practice session before the first ODI in Nagpur, with only Joe Root utilising the nets for an extra batting session. England players did not practice for the second and third ODI matches in Cuttack and Ahmedabad.

“They had one practice session, the day before the Nagpur game. They haven’t practiced since. Only one batter who had a net was Joe Root. Sorry, but you cannot come to the subcontinent, keep making the same mistakes, and then not practice,” Pietersen said.

“I get it, enjoy yourselves. These are the best times of your lives. Play golf, go out, eat at a beautiful restaurant. But you get paid to score runs. That is why you get paid. You don’t get paid to play golf. This is not a golf tour; this is a cricket tour. You practice so that you leave on a flight tomorrow knowing, ‘I have given my everything to win a game of cricket for England.’ There is not one person in that England dressing room that can get on a plane tomorrow, maybe Joe Root because he is the only one who tried and practiced,” he added.

England’s ODI series loss to India comes as another disappointment ahead of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The ODI series saw England lose wickets at regular intervals despite getting solid starts from the top order in all three matches. Indian bowlers proved too much for this English side as they managed to keep England’s scoring under check. Meanwhile, Indian batters performed exceptionally well to help with the chase in the first two matches and then to set a target in the final ODI.