T20 World Cup is a ruthless tournament, first and foremost we need to beat Sri Lanka: Jos Buttler

England skipper Jos Buttler admitted that they can not afford to be complacent in the ongoing T20 World Cup. The Three Lions were stunned by Ireland earlier in the tournament. England was able to beat New Zealand by 20 runs on Tuesday at the Gabba, Brisbane and it was a must-win match for them.

The Jos Buttler-led team will next face Sri Lanka and the England captain wants to take one step at a time. As England have a better NRR than Australia, they will go through to the semifinal stages if they beat Sri Lanka in their last match of the Super 12 stage.

“I said at the toss that we didn’t think too much about the past poor performance, we have great players in the playing XI and in the squad, and we had the confidence that showed up today. It’s a ruthless tournament, last year South Africa went out despite having 4 wins out of 5 games,” Jos Buttler said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“This is a World Cup, there will be pressure and the best teams do thrive under it. We bat deep, I thought the wicket was a little bit tricky, especially against spin and I thought Alex Hales played a fine hand, it’s all about partnerships, one day he gets going, and some other day it’ll be my turn.

“It’s nice at the end of a career when you look back at things on an individual level (on going past Eoin Morgan as the highest scorer for England in T20Is). The game was shaped in different ways, facing spin was tough, and we wanted to be flexible with both bat and ball – the way Moeen bowled that fantastic first over, he put New Zealand under a lot of pressure,” Buttler said.

Meanwhile, Alex Hales scored a crucial knock of 52 runs off 40 balls while opening the innings. Hales and Buttler were able to add a crucial alliance of 81 runs at the top of the order.

“Hales played brilliantly, we know what he is capable of. You need to be patient in T20 cricket, you need to keep backing guys. It’s important to keep pushing them and keep encouraging them. We were aiming for 160-165, but we managed to push beyond that. We have had success batting first.”

Buttler added that the team is doing well while batting first. Meanwhile, Sam Curran was the pick of the bowlers for England as he scalped two wickets and conceded 26 runs in his quota of four overs against the Kiwis. The youngster has snared nine wickets in three matches in the ongoing T20I showpiece and he has the most wickets in the Super 12 stage.

“In the games against Australia, we won batting first. You always need to take wickets in the second half. Batting first was the right option for us today. The pitch was a bit damp. He (Curran) has been bowling well, hitting the wickets hard. First and foremost we need to win against Sri Lanka,” Buttler further said.

England will take on Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.