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Jos Buttler praised Rohit Sharma, saying his aggressive play was a validation of England’s BazBall style.
Rohit Sharma (AFP)
England captain Jos Buttler believes that his counterpart Rohit Sharma’s 119 in the second 2025 ODI between the two teams in Cuttack vindicated the visitors’ BazBall style as the ‘correct way’ of playing the format.
Rohit took just 75 balls to reach his 33rd ODI century. Opening the batting in a 305-run chase, he saw off the first couple of overs before taking the attack to the English bowlers. The Indian skipper smashed 12 fours and seven sixes and ended the innings with a brilliant strike rate of 132.22, which all but ensured the hosts’ win. India chased the total with more than five overs to spare, sealing the three-match series 2-0.
“He really showed (that) in this day and age, in the modern sort of way of playing 50-over cricket, it’s very dynamic, very aggressive,” Buttler said of Rohit after the match. “He scored at a rate that just confirms really that the way we want to play is the right way that you have to play to try and win games in cricket. The way Rohit played showed that the way we want to play our cricket is the way, the correct way to play cricket.”
For the Englishmen, Joe Root’s 69 (42) was the highest score as most batters failed to convert their starts and got out against the run of play. In the mid-innings break, former captain Kevin Pietersen slammed the effort for a lack of ‘desire’ and ‘hunger’ to get the big score, feeling that too many players were only concerned about entertainment and not winning the matches.
‘Nice reminder for us’: Buttler on Rohit’s criticism
Buttler also spoke about how the fact that Rohit was under immense pressure before this century was a ‘nice reminder’ for England that they can, too, turn it around.
“It’s probably a nice reminder for all of us that if someone of Rohit’s caliber can be under pressure, we should be a bit easier on ourselves,” he said. “He’s been a great player for such a long period of time and top players generally come up with the goods, and he obviously did that today.”
“Any time you’re playing against great players and they’re playing an innings like that, I’m sure players on both sides will be watching and learning. He played a brilliant innings and (displayed) how he can go up and down the gears and absorb pressure, put a lot of pressure back on (the opponent).”
England lost the T20I series 4-1 and the ODIs 2-0 with a match to go in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, February 12.
