England batsmen are having a tough time in the ongoing Test series against India at home. Expect for skipper Joe Root (64 and 109), none of the batsmen managed to touch the 40-run mark in the drawn first Test at Trent Bridge while the story was somewhat similar in the second game at Lord’s, which the hosts lost by 151 runs.
Root and company had to bat less than two sessions to save the Lord’s Test but they failed to do so as India’s pace-quartet demolished the English batting line-up, bowling them out for 120 in 51.5 overs.
Captain Root was the lone warrior in the second Test as well, scoring 180 not out and 33 across the two innings.
On the eve of the third Test at Leeds, wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler lauded Root for his consistent performances and admitted that the rest of the England batting line-up needs to step up.
"I think it is obvious that the rest of us need to step up and give Joe Root more support. This year, in particular, he always bats well, but he seems to be in the form of his life," Buttler said while replying to an ANI query during an interaction with select media organised by Sony Network.
"He has had an amazing start to the series and hopefully, that can continue and the rest of us can improve our game to give him more support. We certainly do not want to create more pressure on Joe's shoulders. As a unit, we need to stand up to the level we can," he added.
England’s tactics of intimidating the Indian tail-enders with short-pitch bowling backfired badly at Lord’s as the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami stitched an unbeaten 89-run stand for the ninth wicket to take the visitors to 298/9 (declared) in the second innings.
Speaking on the same line, Buttler said: "Yeah, potentially. Sometimes when you have a bowler who can bowl incredibly fast as Mark Wood does against the lower order, it can be to intimidate the lower-order batsmen. We thought it was a good option, obviously, it did not work for us and that was disappointing. But still, I think it can be a good tactic at times and we will try to get our tactics spot on going forward."
The Lord's Test saw verbal duels from both sides and Jos Buttler said that all of it was in good spirits.
"At times, it can be part and parcel of the game. As a viewer, it is interesting to watch but I think, to be honest, it boils down to 22 ultra-competitive guys on the field who are trying to win for their country. At times, there can be ego and some words can be exchanged. Mostly it is in good spirits, but as a side, we are focused on what we need to do as a group to get back in the Test series," Buttler remarked.
"Virat Kohli is an incredibly competitive guy, he loves the challenge and competition. To be honest, that is one of the pleasures of playing against him. It is a great battle, it tests you. It is a privilege really to be out there in that competition against him and his team. We enjoy that, we have really competitive guys in our team as well who are desperate to win and it adds to the picture," he concluded.
(With ANI inputs)
