Jos Buttler heaps praise on Abhishek Sharma for ‘clean’ ball-striking

England white-ball captain Jos Buttler praised India’s Abhishek Sharma for his stunning 135-run innings that helped the home side thrash the visitors by 150 runs in the fifth T20 international at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

In the fifth Twenty20 International of the series, India crushed England by 150 runs thanks to Abhishek Sharma’s thrilling 135-run innings and overall a brilliant bowling display.

Batting first, India put up a mammoth 247/9 in the allotted 20 overs, thanks to 135 off 54 from Abhishek Sharma. The young left-handed batter smashed 13 sixes and seven fours in his innings with a strike rate of 250.

After a brilliant batting display, Abhishek Sharma also picked up two wickets to end up player of the match, while Varun Chakaravarthy was adjudged player of the series.

India clinched the five-match series 4-1 while Jos Buttler and his team would like to improve their performance in the three-match ODI series, starting from February 6.

Speaking after the match, the English captain praised the young Indian batter for playing ‘fantastically well’.

“Yeah, (we are) disappointed (with the result), they (India) played a fantastic batting innings. I think credit to Abhishek Sharma, I thought that’s as clean a ball-striking as I’ve seen, I thought he played fantastically well. We always sit down and think what more could we have done or how we could have stopped him, but some days I think you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition, I thought he played brilliantly well,” Jos Buttler, as quoted by an Indian media outlet.

“He (Abhishek) played a brilliant innings and sometimes you want to credit the opposition. You always think of what more could you do, how could we get him out, how could we slow him down and, but yeah, credit to us for, you know, sticking in there and fighting back and keeping them down to 240 after the start they got.”