Published: Jul 22, 2019, 01:48 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 22, 2019, 01:48 PM (IST)
World Cup winning wicketkeeper batsman Jos Buttler has revealed that if England had lost to New Zealand in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Lord’s on July 14, he wouldn’t have known if he could play cricket again.
Talking to The Daily Mail, the wicketkeeper-batsman said,” What was scaring me was if we lost, I didn’t know how I’d play cricket again. This was such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a World Cup final at Lord’s. It felt like destiny and I was thinking: “If it doesn’t happen, I will have no motivation to pick up a cricket bat for a very long time”.
Buttler also stated that he fought anxiety not only ahead of the World Cup final, but also during league stages, particularly when England were in a must-win position against favorites India. ALSO READ: I don’t think I will care what happens now in my career: Jos Buttler
‘Before the India game,’ he says, ‘I was struggling with coming to terms with the prospect of us getting knocked out. We’d been favourites, so highly fancied by everyone, and there was the danger that four years of playing such good cricket was going to come to nothing. Think about what people will say about us as a team, think about how they will call us chokers, everything else they will say. I remember seeing a comment — maybe it was the one that got Jonny Bairstow wound up — about how it would be the biggest failure because of how much had gone into this World Cup. I was struggling with the thought of that.” ALSO READ: To get over the line means the world to us, says Eoin Morgan as England beat New Zealand to win World Cup
Buttler sought the help of England’s team psychologist, David Young, to calm his nerves during the World Cup.
When I was talking to David, I knew the answers.I knew all I could look after was the stuff I could look after, and I needed to get into my zone, which allows me to perform the best I can. But what happens if it goes wrong?’
