Former West Indies pacer Ian Bishop has picked Jos Buttler to be the highest run-getter in the T20 World Cup 2024, which will kick start in the West Indies and the United States of America in June.
“I am going to go for a top-order batter, and I am going to say, Jos Buttler of England,” Bishop, who is a part of the International Cricket Council's commentary panel for the T20 World Cup, said on the ESPNcricinfo show.
“Most runs in a single edition, I think Virat Kohli holds it (319 runs in 2014), that record can be broken in this World Cup,” Bishop reckoned, as he also predicted England to be one of the contenders for the semi-finals spot.
Rajasthan Royals’ opener Buttler will lead England in their pursuit of defending the T20 World Cup title, which they won in 2022 in Australia. England face Scotland in their opening match at Bridgetown on June 4.
Buttler led from the front in the 2022 T20 World Cup to be England's top-scorer in the showpiece event with 225 runs from six matches. The wicketkeeper-batter’s best effort in the tournament came against India in the semi-finals, where he scored an unbeaten 80 off just 49 balls to power England to a 10-wicket win.
Butter has been in good form recently, as he scored a match-winning 84 off just 51 balls in England’s 23-run win against Pakistan in the second T20I. Buttler is one of the most vital cogs in the England men’s cricket team with 3011 runs from 115 matches in the shortest format. He is the only Englishman to cross 3000 runs in T20I cricket.
Buttler also had a good IPL 2024 campaign as he scored two hundreds en route to aggregating 359 runs from 11 matches for the Royals, before leaving for national duty ahead of the playoffs phase.
After their opener, England will meet arch-rival Australia on June 8 at Bridgetown before squaring off against fellow Group B teams Oman and Namibia on June 13 and 15, respectively, at North Sound.
