Jos Buttler hails Adil Rashid as England’s ‘most important player’

Jos Buttler hailed Adil Rashid as his “trump card” after the leg-spinner helped England breathe fresh life into their T20 series against India in Rajkot.

These five contests have been pitched as an arm-wrestle between England’s genuine fast bowlers and India’s high-quality spinners but, in Rashid, the tourists have a world-class tweaker of their own.

Having made 10 not out in an unbeaten 24-run stand for the last wicket with Mark Wood to get England to 171 for nine after they had slumped to 127 for eight, Rashid took a priceless 4-0-15-1 with the ball.

After clattering the stumps of Chennai match-winner Tilak Varma with a vicious turning delivery, Rashid dried up the scoring, not conceding a single boundary, in the middle overs and India failed to recover.

It was the fulcrum of a disciplined bowling display from England, who triumphed by 26 runs to narrow the series deficit to 2-1, and Buttler was full of praise for his fellow double World Cup winner.

“He’s been brilliant,” the England captain said of Rashid, who took one for 14 in Chennai.

“I always say he’s the most important player for us and he always just seems to keep getting better.

“He’s got so many different styles of bowling, he’s got so much variety and one of his great skills is in his first couple of balls, he seems to work out exactly how he needs to bowl on that wicket.

“He’s an absolute trump card to have as a captain. He’s been brilliant the last couple of games.”

England got a special performance from their bowling unit after a mixed bag from their batters, with Ben Duckett’s sparkling 51 off 28 balls underpinning a score of 83 for one in the ninth over.

But a dramatic collapse saw them lose seven wickets for 44 runs, with Varun Chakravarthy bagging five for 24, as England’s woes against spin resurfaced and threatened to send them into a tailspin.

Chakravarthy has 10 wickets in just three outings but England’s gameplan under new head coach Brendon McCullum to keep taking the attacking option paid off as Liam Livingstone belted 43 off 24 deliveries.

He struck five sixes in total, including three in four balls off Ravi Bishnoi, before Rashid and Wood scampered and scrapped their way to England’s joint-highest stand for the 10th wicket in T20s.

Jamie Overton then claimed three for 24 while there were a couple of wickets apiece for Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse as England’s quicks varied their paces and lengths to restrict India to 145 for nine.

“It was a great win,” Buttler said.

“So many good performances from across the group so I’m delighted. I just love the way the guys played.

“We’re absolutely moving in the right direction. We’re really happy with the style we’re trying to play and continuing to be aggressive and taking our shots on with the bat.

“Our bowlers adapted really well, obviously they can bowl very fast but I thought they showed off their skills as well. They used pace-off deliveries and executed different deliveries very well.”

Buttler conceded “it was probably a decent toss to lose” after calling incorrectly for the third successive occasion although victory came at a cost with Jamie Smith limping off when India batted.

England’s Test wicketkeeper took the gloves for the third T20 off Phil Salt – whose barren run continued when he was dismissed for five – after struggling with a tight calf since the weekend.

But Smith headed for the pavilion in the fourth over of India’s innings, with Salt resuming stumping duties from then on, and Buttler is hopeful the issue is not serious.

“There’s no point risking anything,” Buttler added. “He said he could still feel it so I said he may as well just go off, it wasn’t going to get any better.

“Obviously we can see how it is over the next few days. I’m sure the guys will have a look at him and the picture will be a bit clearer.”