Jos Buttler had a really poor start to his tenure as England’s full-time limited-overs captain, as the hosts were thrashed by 50 runs by India in the opening match of the ongoing three-match T20I series at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday (July 7).
Buttler in his first outing as full-time England white-ball captain had a really poor outing as a batter, as India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed him for a golden duck to give Team India a great start while defending 199 in the first T20I on Thursday.
Well, the rest of the job was done by Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who took 4/33 to help the touring side win the match by 50 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the T20I series against England.
Buttler lauded Bhuvneshwar (1/10) and the Indian bowlers for making England batters' lives tough in the first match. He felt the Indians made the most of the swing that was on Thursday.
Jos Buttler said after the match: “We were outplayed today. India bowled fantastically well, we couldn't get back from there. Thought we came back well with the ball in the second half. They were a little bit above the bar, but their ball swung quite consistently early on and got wickets.”
He added, “Bhuvneshwar Kumar can swing it on most places. It swung more than usual, we probably had to hit one to the stands to reduce the swing (smiles).”
Chris Jordan surpassed Adil Rashid to become England’s leading wicket-taker in T20I cricket with 82 wickets. He returned with figures of 2/23 in his four overs against India on Thursday. The England captain lauded Jordan and said that the hosts missed a bit on their regular stars.
Buttler signed off by saying, “Chris Jordan to come away with figures like that - he did fantastically well. “There are a number of guys out due to schedule or injuries and given some boys some chances. Matt Parkinson stood up to the challenge of bowling late in the innings.”
(India Today inputs)
