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