England had to endure a one-for-ages chastening at the hands of the Indian team in the five-match T20I series. What’s worse is that this drubbing came after a seemingly overhaul of their white-ball setup. However, the English skipper is not ready to let go of their aggressive game strategy.
After failing to chase the ginormous 247 run target set by India in the final T20I, Buttler acknowledged that in such high-scoring games its always all-or-nothing.
“I’ve played in a few games like this. You either get somewhere near, or you fall in a heap, and today was that day. It can be difficult when a player gets on a roll, and plays as well as he did. Credit to us for sticking in there and fighting back, and keeping them down to 240, after the start they got.”
“But we certainly won’t change the way we want to play. We need to keep backing that, and be even more committed.”
He further added,
“We certainly won’t change the way we want to play, we need to keep backing that, be even more committed and be desperate to do well and execute that. If we’re going to fall, I’d rather fall on the proactive side. Hopefully, over time you get more comfortable with that and play better.”
The English skipper was, especially, full of praises for the Indian opener, Abhishek Sharma. Sharma struck a 37-ball hundred to help India script Wankhede Stadium’s highest innings total in T20Is. Sharma has scored runs at an average of 55.8 this series, though what stood out about him the most was his strike rate. He struck 13 sixes in the last game, the highest by an Indian in a T20I game.
“We’re obviously disappointed. I’ve played quite a lot of cricket, and credit to Abhishek Sharma. That’s as clean a ball-striking as I’ve seen. He played fantastically well. We always sit down and think what more could we have done. But some days, you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition. I thought he played brilliantly well.”
India were able to get England all out within 10.3 overs for a mere total of 97 runs. Barring Phil Salt, none of the visiting batters could make any impact. Buttler accepted that the batters could not capitalise on the assistance the pitch was offering for stroke-making.
“The way Phil Salt went out there and struck the ball, it was obviously a really good wicket,” Jos Buttler said talking after his side’s 4-1 loss. “He needed someone to go with him, and for one or two guys to catch fire. That’s the way you’re going to chase that down. You either get quite close in games like this and surprise yourselves, or it doesn’t work.”
This was England’s first white-ball series with their new coach Brendon McCullum. After revolutionizing the Test team’s fortunes, he is hoped to do the same in the limited-over formats as well. With the ODI series against India starting this week, England have a chance to get their affairs in order before the start of the Champions Trophy later this month.
