‘He is in great form,’ Jos Buttler names England batsman India will find tough to bowl to

Jos Buttler has warned India about an England batsman, who he he feels the home team will find it tough to bowl at.

The England cricket team has begun its preparations for the Test series against India starting February 5 in Chennai. The tourists will be high on confidence having recently beaten Sri Lanka 2-0 on their soil before flying to India. England’s batsmen will be up for a serious Test when they face India’s bowling attack, which showed in Australia just how formidable it is even in the absence of a couple of senior fast bowlers.

File image of Jos Buttler. (Getty)

However, wicketkeeper batsman Jos Buttler has warned India about England’s captain Joe Root. Root is coming off a splendid century and a double century in Sri Lanka, and having toured India a couple of times earlier, the England skipper has the experience of tackling Indian bowlers.

"Joe was in fantastic form in Sri Lanka, he has always had a brilliant game to play spin bowling. He is one of the best exponents of the sweep shot and he picks length brilliantly. It is a big strength when playing spin, he is very hard to bowl dot balls at. He scores quickly against spin and he has so many shots, he manages to rotate strike,” Buttler responded to an ANI query during a virtual press conference.

"He did that fantastically well in Sri Lanka, the biggest thing about him was the hunger shown by him to bat for long periods. He showed great application both mentally and tactically. He is in great form and it is a great place for him to be at just at the start of the year.”

England are buoyed by the return of two of their most charismatic superstars for the India series. Fast bowler Jofra Archer and start all-rounder Ben Stokes, both of whom were rested for the SL series, are set to feature in the Tests, ODIs and T20Is. Buttler called Stokes and Archer the X-factor of the team, while also underlining the threat their fast-bowling combination of James Anderson and Stuart Broad can pose.

"Jofra Archer is certainly an X-factor player, it is fantastic to have Jofra back into the side, he would be excited to do well in this series. We have a few guys who can do quite amazing things with the ball. Stuart Broad and James Anderson are two of the best to play this game, Jofra is a huge X-factor and Ben Stokes is a pretty good X-factor player as well," Buttler pointed out.