Jos Buttler seemed quite positive despite the side’s defeat in the second ODI of the three-match series of England’s tour of India 2025.
The hosts secured a four-wicket win in Cuttack and sealed the series win 2-0 with a match to spare. Although, the Men in Blues secured a comfortable win, England captain Jos Buttler feels that the side is stepping in the right direction ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025.
He also applauded Indian captain Rohit Sharma for his impressive 32nd ODI century which laid a platform for their win.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Buttler said, “I thought we did a lot of things well, we got into a nice position with the bat. We needed someone to push on and get us to 350.”
𝗔 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸! ✅
The Rohit Sharma-led #TeamIndia beat England by 4⃣ wickets in the 2nd ODI & take an unassailable lead in the ODI series! 👏 👏
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/NReW1eEQtF#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/G63vdfozd5
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2025
“Credit to Rohit, he batted superbly, he has been batting like this since a few years in ODI cricket. Wanted to get runs on the board, it skidded on a bit and the opposition also played well.”
“We played the powerplay brilliant, we needed someone to kick on and a score around 330-350 would have been defendable. Just keep taking steps in the right direction, the results are not there but we need to keep going and be positive,” concluded Jos Buttler.
England won the toss where opener Ben Duckett and Joe Root smashed half-centuries in the top order to give a jump start for the side.
With contributions from Phil Salt, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler and Livingstone, the visitors were able to post a total of 304 in their innings.
Jadeja played a crucial role in picking three wickets with an economy of 3.50. Meanwhile, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardik Pandya, Harshit Rana, and Mohammed Shami picked one wicket each to dismantle England.
In pursuing a target of 305, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave a solid start by forging a 136-run partnership for the first wicket.
With Gill dismissed for 60 runs by Jamie Overton in the 17th over, Virat Kohli who returned to the squad scored only 5 runs before Adil Rashid sent him back to the dugout.
However, joining with Shreyas Iyer, Rohit shattered the bowling attacks from England bowlers to cross 200+ runs marks in the innings.
He smashed 119 runs in the 90 deliveries before being dismissed by Livingstone. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer got run out for 44 runs in the 37th over. With KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya contributed 10 runs each, Axar Patel stood unbeaten with 41 runs.
At the other end, Jadeja scored 11* runs to secure a stunning four wicket win in Barabati Stadium.
