England’s wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler has stated that it was a great collective team effort after the tourists defeated India in the third T20I by eight wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Buttler was the architect of 157 run-chase as he smashed 83 runs from only 52 balls.
Thus, the England swashbuckling wicket-keeper batsman not only registered his highest score in the shortest format of the game but also leapfrogged Eoin Morgan’s highest score of 71 against India.
The England fast bowlers were able to set up the win as they scalped three wickets in the powerplay overs and conceded only 24 runs. Virat Kohli played a heroic knock of 77 runs from 46 balls but didn’t get the support from the other end. Thus, the hosts could only post 156 runs, which proved to be an under-par score.
Subsequently, Jos Buttler took the game away from the hosts with his aggressive batting. The right-hander was able to hit the ground running as he smashed two sixes in Chahal’s first over despite the early fall of Jason Roy on either side of both sixes.
Buttler started his knock in the fifth gear and kept scoring at a fine rate, to keep England ahead in the game. England scored 57 runs in the powerplay overs, which was more than double of what India got, and out of those 57 runs, 43 were scored by Jos Buttler.
Buttler brought up his 11th T20I fifty off just 26 balls as he showed no mercy to the Indian bowlers.
Buttler said in the post-match presentation, “It was nice to spend time in the middle. I always like being not out at the end. It was a great team performance. Anytime you take early wickets in the powerplay, really sets you up. We got some good partnerships to see us home. People don’t expect me to attack spinners, so I tried to take it on. Chahal is a fantastic bowler and I have had some good battles against him. It was nice to chance my arm a bit today. The first six off Chahal got me off and running and gave me confidence. We managed to put a good powerplay”.
On the other hand, Buttler heaped praise on England’s captain Eoin Morgan, who became the first English player to play 100 T20I matches for the country. Buttler stated that Morgan has played a key role in taking England cricket to the top echelons of the game.
Buttler added, “I tried to get across what a special achievement it is to play 100 matches and what he’s (Morgan) done for English white-ball cricket. Eoin’s taken our white-ball fortunes to a completely new place that we’ve never been before”.
The fourth T20I will take place at the same venue on Thursday.
