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England skipper Jos Buttler expressed his disappointment at England failing to produce an impressive showing on the field for longer period of time. Buttler’s comments came after England failed to defend their below-par total of 248 in the first fixture of the ODI series against India in Nagpur on Thursday (February 6).
After choosing to bat first, the visitors started on a fantastic note, with openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett firing on all cylinders, and effectively used fielding restrictions to their favor. They added 75 runs in just 8.5 overs, before Salt (43) was run-out by Shreyas Iyer. In the next over, Harshit Rana dismissed Duckett (32) and Harry Brook (0) to put the visitors under incessant pressure.
Although, Joe Root (19) tried to resurrect England’s innings, he was trapped LBW by Ravindra Jadeja. His partnership with Jos Buttler could last only 34 runs, and compounded the batting unit’s worries. Buttler (52) and Jacob Bethell (51) scored fifties to take the team’s total to 248. In response, India chased down the total in under 39 overs.
Jos Buttler feels losing wickets in clusters cost England dearly and a score of around 300 could have kept them in the game.
“Obviously disappointed not to win,” Buttler said in an interview with TNT Sports. “We got off to a fantastic start, the two guys [Salt and Ben Duckett] were very aggressive in the power play.
“Losing four wickets so close together put us back. When you see the way the wicket played, another 40 or 50 runs could have been crucial.
Buttler wants England to dominate the opposition for a longer time to secure results in their favor. Meanwhile, he also praised Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer for their impressive knocks. He said:
“This is not how we want to play. We want to put the opposition under pressure and keep the momentum going as long as possible. That has been the same through the T20s, as well as today.”
“The game was in the balance, but credit to Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill, who put together a good partnership. We need to play better for longer, we need to execute our plans better, and when we get momentum and the opposition under pressure extend that for longer,” he added.
Jos Buttler praises Jacob Bethell for his “mature” knock
In the aforementioned video, Jos Buttler also lauded the talent of the 21-year-old Jacob Bethell, who tried well to put England in good position after losing wickets in quick succession. He arrived at the crease at 111/4 and took some time in the middle to understand the surface. He was batting on 8 off 27, before slamming Hardik Pandya for a six.
The southpaw stitched a 59-run stand with Buttler and went on to score 51 off 64 balls, which helped England to post a modest total on the board. The England skipper feels it was a good learning curve for the youngster, who will only improve as time passes.
“I was watching him bat and saying ‘I couldn’t remember how to bat at 21’, it took me till I was about 28, I think. I’m really pleased for him,” Jos Buttler said.
“He didn’t find it easy at the start, but he was very mature, measured, soaked up some pressure and came through it,” he continued.
“It was a really mature innings from him, he’ll learn a lot from this, it’s a really good experience,” he added.
