'I'm not part of the team at the moment' - Jos Buttler reckons white-ball captaincy might end his Test career

Jos Buttler has been in the prime of his life in the last few months scoring runs at a brisk rate. After a successful IPL 2022 where he won the Orange Cap award for finishing as the highest run-getter with 863 runs from 17 matches, he followed it up with a whirlwind century off just 47 balls against the Netherlands last month.

Lately, Buttler succeeded Eoin Morgan as England’s white-ball captain after the latter announced his retirement owing to poor form and fitness concerns. However, the wicketkeeper-batter reckons that his appointment as the Three Lions’ limited-overs skipper could bring curtains down on his Test career which has not been great so far.

Certainly being captain of the white-ball team is my number one priority: Jos Buttler

“Certainly being captain of the white-ball team is my number one priority. I’m very focused and really excited for the challenge that lies ahead,” Buttler told reporters as quoted by NDTV.

“I think it’s going to be a really big challenge and one that needs my full-time attention. Talking about the Test stuff might be a question that never has to be answered unless someone wants to pick me for the team, which hasn’t been the case”, he added.

“It’s quite obvious at the minute I was left out on merit and rightfully so. I had a poor Ashes series and I’m not part of the team at the moment”, he further added.

While Jos Buttler has gone on to emerge as one of the finest limited-overs batters and finishers in the last few years, his Test career has been disappointing having registered just two centuries from 57 matches. He was last seen in action for England in whites during their disastrous Ashes 2021/22 campaign Down Under which they lost 0-4 to arch-rivals Australia.

The Englishman flopped in that series managing just 107 runs in four matches averaging 15.28 and was ruled out of the inconsequential fifth Test match due to a broken finger. Buttler was then excluded from the away Test series against West Indies in March, the home red-ball series against the World Test champions New Zealand as well as the rescheduled fifth Test against India.

The middle-order batter’s first captaincy assignment will be during the white-ball leg against India starting July 7.