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Buttler brands Ravindra Jadeja's Lord's valiant effort a Dhoni-esque one with ‘I will be here till the end’ approach
Buttler was all praise for Jadeja for showing strong character in the chase as he held one end firmly when wickets were falling from the other side.
Ravindra Jadeja left former England skipper Jos Buttler highly impressed with his fighting knock against England at Lord's. Jadeja led a valiant effort in the company of tailenders Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, taking the match down to the wire. However, England held their nerve and struck at decisive moments to clinch a hard-fought victory. The veteran all-rounder held one end and scored an unbeaten 61 off 181 balls, which kept India alive in the game post-tea.
Buttler was all praise for Jadeja for showing strong character in the chase as he held one end firmly when wickets were falling from the other side.
"Jadeja is an incredible cricketer," Buttler said on For the Love of Cricket, his new podcast with Stuart Broad.
“He's one of those players India turn to. You sort of knew in this run chase, he was going to be a main character because he's that kind of personality, and he's the one that has that bit of something about him. He fights. He is always in the big moments,” he added.
The English wicketkeeper batter even compared Jadeja to legendary MS Dhoni for the way he constructs his innings and takes the game deeper at Lord's.
"If KL Rahul was going to be the calm guy to try and take it through, Pant was probably going to be the opposite—with a bit of dash and trying to win it in an hour—whereas Jadeja has that sort of stickability and ‘I'm going to try and be here till the end.’ It was Dhoni-style, really, just like, ‘I'm going to hope you crack first,’" said Buttler.
Jadeja’s partnerships with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj showed pure grit. With India at a shaky 112 for 8 chasing 193, Jadeja got help from the tail. He and Bumrah put on a key 35-run stand over 22 overs, changing a sure loss into a tight contest. After Bumrah was out, Siraj came in, and the two kept frustrating England, taking the game down to the wire post Tea, but Shoaib Bashir broke the deadlock by dismissing Siraj and sealed the win for England.
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Buttler was impressed by the way Jadeja batted alongside the tail gave the likes of Bumrah and Siraj the confidence by giving them strike.
“What I loved most was the way he went about it and how committed he was to his plan. The amount of faith he showed in No 10 and 11, I think, did wonders for them. I think they buy into that—when you give someone trust and you say, ‘We can do this. This is how we are going to win the game’,” he added.
‘Jadeja gave Bumrah and Siraj a clear role’
Buttler further discussed Jadeja's conviction in his plan when he took the game forward with the Indian tail.
"Jadeja gave them a clear role—‘This is what I need from you.’ Bumrah and Siraj, two very feisty, competitive, proud guys, put their bodies on the line. Absolutely, they're not the best batters, but it's like they're going to find a way.
"Whether he got it right or wrong, I don't think is necessarily the point, but the conviction that he had in his plan and the way he was going to execute it—probably a plan that no one thought was worthwhile—that’s what stood out," he said.
