England captain Jos Buttler looked in superb form during the first T20I series against India at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Buttler was the only England batsman to make a significant impact as he hit 68 off just 44 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes.
After this shot, he achieved a monumental feat and drew level with West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran. Buttler batted at an unusual spot no. 3 instead of opening the innings. However, he looked in great shape and played both fast bowlers and bowlers with ease.
Jos Buttler is equal to Nicholas Pooran and has achieved a monumental feat
The fifty in Kolkata was Jos Buttler’s fifth 50-plus score against India in T20I cricket. He now has the joint-most 50-plus scores against India in T20Is and along the way has equaled Nicholas Pooran, who also scored 5 50s against India in the format.
Buttler has scored a total of 566 runs against India in 23 T20Is at an average of 35.37 and an economy rate of 146.63. The England captain needs 34 more runs to become the first man in history to score 600 runs in T20Is against India.
Currently, Nicholas Pooran has scored the most runs against India in T20Is. Pooran has scored 592 runs in 20 T20Is at an average of 32.88 and a strike rate of 135.15. With four more T20Is remaining in the ongoing series, Buttler is the favorite to reach the 600-run mark before Pooran.
Most fifty-plus scores against India in T20Is
Apart from Jos Buttler and Nicholas Pooran, New Zealand’s Colin Munro, Australia’s Glenn Maxwell and South Africa’s Quinton de Kock have 4 fifty-plus scores in the T20I format.
- Nicholas Pooran (West Indies) – 5 fifties
- Jos Buttler (England) – 5 fifties
- Colin Munro (New Zealand)- 4 fifties
- Glenn Maxwell (Australia)- 4 fifties
- Quinton de Kock (South Africa) – 5 fifties
India defeated England to take a 1-0 lead
While Jos Buttler played an outstanding innings at the Eden Gardens, it was not enough for his team as England thoroughly dominated India in the first T20I. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and India put England to bat first on a difficult surface.
The pitch looked like a belt but left-armer Arshdeep Singh struck in his first over to deal a major blow to the visitors. Arshdeep dismissed Phil Salt for a duck and then removed fellow opener Ben Duckett in the next over.
After a good partnership between captain Jos Buttler and vice-captain Harry Brook, England looked to be back on track, however, Varun Chakravarthy had other ideas as he broke the partnership by dismissing Harry Brook with a beauty.
Chakravarthy did not stop there and a few balls later he dismissed Liam Livingstone. That started the collapse for England and they kept losing wickets. With the wicket of Jos Buttler, England’s hopes of a big score collapsed and they were all out for 132 in 20 overs.
In reply, India started in blistering fashion with openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma knocking England out of the park. Samson was dismissed on 26 but Abhishek continued in his merry way. Abhishek smashed 79 off just 34 balls and hit 5 fours and 8 sixes in his knock.
Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya stayed till the end to guide India to a brilliant victory in just 12.5 overs. India now lead 1-0 in the series with four games to go.
