Jos Buttler, England’s captain, hailed Abhishek Sharma for producing some of the “cleanest ball-striking I’ve ever seen”, but insisted his team would not veer from the aggressive strategies they’ve brought to bear in their first series since Brendon McCullum took over as white-ball head coach.
Abhishek’s stunning innings of 135 from 54 balls, the highest score ever made by an Indian batter in T20Is, proved to be 38 more runs than England’s entire line-up could muster in reply, as they were routed for 97 in 10.3 overs, to succumb to a 4-1 series loss.
England’s eventual 150-run defeat was their biggest in the format, and a crushing end to an intermittently competitive series. Though Buttler acknowledged his team had had their chances to turn the campaign in their favour, he was happy to bow down to one of the mightiest batting displays imaginable.
“We’re obviously disappointed,” Buttler said. “I’ve played quite a lot of cricket, and credit to Abhishek Sharma. That’s as clean a ball-striking as I’ve seen. He played fantastically well. We always sit down and think what more could we have done. But some days, you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition. I thought he played brilliantly well.”
Buttler said that Abhishek’s display was a continuation of the full-blooded form he showed alongside Travis Head for Sunrisers Hyderabad in last year’s IPL. In such run-laden displays, he added, contests tend to go one of two ways.
“I’ve played in a few games like this,” he said. “You either get somewhere near, or you fall in a heap, and today was that day. It can be difficult when a player gets on a roll, and plays as well as he did. Credit to us for sticking in there and fighting back, and keeping them down to 240, after the start they got.”
England’s reply got off to a misleadingly flying start, with Phil Salt cracking 17 runs off Mohammad Shami’s first over, en route to a 21-ball fifty. But his was a lone hand as wickets continued to tumble at the other end, with the entire team being bowled out just after the halfway mark of their chase.
“The way Phil Salt went out there and struck the ball, it was obviously a really good wicket,” Buttler said. “He needed someone to go with him, and for one or two guys to catch fire. That’s the way you’re going to chase that down. You either get quite close in games like this and surprise yourselves, or it doesn’t work.
“But we certainly won’t change the way we want to play. We need to keep backing that, and be even more committed.”
The final match got underway just 48 hours after the controversy at Pune, where fast bowler Harshit Rana stepped in as a concussion sub after a blow to the helmet for Shivam Dube. Dube declared himself “good to go” before the toss in Mumbai, despite the ICC’s protocols stating that a seven-day lay-off should be mandatory in such situations, and Buttler hinted at his continued annoyance by describing his four non-selected players as “impact subs”.
Speaking after the defeat, however, he struck a more conciliatory tone. “He’s pulled up pretty well from a nasty blow on the head, hopefully he’s okay,” Buttler said, after Dube had scored 30 from 13 balls and claimed 2 for 11 in his two overs. “I’m sure he must have been happy with the risk he took or their medical staff were. Maybe a question for them.”
Legspinner Varun Chakravarthy also played a key role in derailing England’s chase with figures of 2 for 25, and was named player of the series for his 14 wickets at 9.85. England’s struggles against spin have been a feature of all five matches, but Buttler said his players would be stronger for the experience.
“Playing against India, you know you’re going to be faced with a lot of spin, but I’m not worried,” Buttler said. “There’s some really good players there and some guys having their first experiences in these conditions. Every day, you’re learning, improving, working things out as you go along and gaining more experience and trying to accelerate that process.
“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,” he 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.”
