England captain Jos Buttler admitted to fearing that India might reach 300 runs in the fifth and final T20I at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, February 2. With the series already lost before the final match, the English bowlers were hammered by the Indian batsmen.
Opener Abhishek Sharma delivered an outstanding 135 off 54 balls, leading India to a huge total of 247/9 in 20 overs. At several points during the innings, it seemed like India could surpass the 300-run mark. By the ninth over, India were at 136/1, thanks to a dominant 115-run partnership between Sharma and Tilak Varma off just 42 balls.
Reflecting on the Indian assault after the game, Buttler stated (via Independent):
“At one point, I was thinking I don’t want to be the team that concedes 300 for the first time. The guys stuck in and we had two commendable performances from Brydon Carse and Mark Wood. We were really outplayed.”
Buttler commended Abhishek for his remarkable batting performance, stating:
“I’ve played quite a lot of cricket and credit to Abhishek Sharma. That was one of the best T20 knocks I’ve been on the receiving end of. You always sit down and think what more could we have done or how we could have stopped him, but some days I think you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition. He played brilliantly well.”
“You either get close or fall apart after IND vs ENG 5th T20I”- Jos Buttler
Jos Buttler stayed calm despite England’s poor batting in the final T20I against India, attributing the collapse to the challenging target. Chasing 248, England was bowled out for just 97 in 10.3 overs, losing by 150 runs.
“With the bat, I’ve played in a few games like this and it generally goes one of two ways: you either get somewhere near or you fall in a heap and today was that day. 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,” Buttler said in the same interview.
He further added: “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.”
Get the latest cricket news here, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.