England captain Jos Buttler only had good words to say about India’s batter-keeper Rishabh Pant as his sensational maiden century helped the Men in Blue win the third ODI in Manchester and pocket the 3-match series 2-1.
Rishabh Pant made 125* with 16 fours and 2 sixes to his name, taking the side home in scintillating fashion, as he unleashed five fours in consecutive balls against David Willey. He had previously added 133 runs for the fifth wicket with Hardik Pandya, who made 71 in 55 balls to rescue India from 72/4 chasing 259 to win the match.
Talking about Rishabh Pant’s brutal knock in the post-match presser, Jos Buttler said: "Rishabh is a fantastic player. What sets him apart from other players, I think, is his mentality. Rishabh is a fearless cricketer and a fantastic talent. He's brilliant across all formats and great to watch. I think he gets great backing to play howsoever he wants to play from his team.”
Buttler started his full-time England captaincy stint on the worst note, losing both the T20I and ODI series by a 1-2 margin to Rohit Sharma-led India.
Talking about that, Buttler said, "I am learning a lot about it (captaincy). I found the first week of captaincy very busy. But I'm a lot more comfortable now. Playing lots of games in a short time was a challenge. I feel like a really experienced cricketer. In terms of a new captain and learning about the role, I think it will take a bit of time. There are experienced guys in the dressing room and the support staff has also helped me.
Learning the art of captaincy is going to develop over time with experience. Just being myself is going to be my style. It is about finding that rhythm.”
The captain was the top-scorer for his side, as he made 60 runs in 80 balls. Buttler pointed at the takeaways for his team from the three-match series.
"I think we need to do better. We have not played much ODI cricket in the recent past and I think we will look at the rhythm of the game again. I think there was certainly more swing in the game. We didn't really get in and have a great partnership. We have played in different conditions in all parts of the world. We just have to play better. We believe in playing positive cricket," said England's captain.
He also pointed out the short gaps between limited overs matches against India, which kept the bowlers from recovering properly and hampered their performance.
"I think we have to look out for our players as it was incredibly tough. The schedule is incredibly tough. Three and a half hours of journey and then play another match on Tuesday. It is probably tough for the bowlers. So we have to look after the players and maybe rest them (in between), this will create opportunities for others as well," he added.
(ANI inputs)
