Jos Buttler scored an unbeaten 83 to help England beat India by eight wickets in the third T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The win has helped the visitors to take the lead in the series once again to go ahead and win the series. Buttler’s innings outscored Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 77 as England well and truly flexed their muscles and dominated India in the game. More About the 3rd T20I report in detail below.
England rode on Jos Buttler’s unbeaten innings as the visitors made an easy task of chasing 157 required for chasing. Toss played a huge role in England’s win as the chasing side won the game for the third straight time in as many games. Buttler hit five fours and four sixes in his innings which had an array of shots all across the ground. He was helped by Dawid Malan (18) and Jonny Bairstow (40*) both of whom had crucial partnerships with the England opener.
The Indian bowling was dominated by all three batsmen after Jason Roy fell early this time around. That did not deter Buttler from playing an aggressive brand of cricket and size up the Indian bowlers during his innings. Shardul Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal went for an economy of over 10 as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Washington Sundar tried to control the scoring but to no avail.
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Jos Buttler Takes England To Victory
The Indian outfielding and catching added to the miseries of the Indian bowlers. There were too many errors committed by the fielders and catches were dropped as well. Overall, it was a forgetful day at the office for India during their attempt at defending their target.
Earlier in the game, England skipper Eoin Morgan on his 100th T20I won the toss and elected to field first. The England pacers Jofra Archer and Mark Wood cranked up good pace to bring India down to 24/3 inside the powerplay. KL Rahul scored his second successive duck, while Rohit Sharma attempting to play the big shots perished early for 15. Ishan Kishan could not replicate his debut performance and was out to the raw pace of Chris Jordan. Virat Kohli’s then had a brief little partnership of 40 with Rishabh Pant (25) but the latter lost his wicket in a mix-up with his skipper.
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The Indian score of 156 proved too little at the end as England chased it down in a canter and without any fuss. Jos Buttler for his unbeaten innings was adjudged as the Man of the Match. His skipper also hailed his brilliant strokeplay at the post-match presentation.
“Jos is a world-class player, we are very lucky to have him. He competes with the best in the world when it comes to opening the batting. There’s very little you have to say to Jos. He’s a great leader within our group, been around for a long time. Obviously, he’s a huge influence in the dressing room. He’s a great friend of mine” said Morgan about this prolific stroke player.
England 158 for 2 (Buttler 83*, Bairstow 40*) beat India 156 for 6 (Kohli 77*, Wood 3-31) by eight wickets
