England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler praised captain Joe Root for his consistent batting performances and admitted that the rest of the England batting line-up needs to step up. Buttler's remarks came a day before the start of the third Test against India, which will be played at Leeds beginning from Wednesday.
Buttler said that Root, who has scored two centuries already in the Test series against England, is in the form of his life, but the rest of the team needs to offer their support to the captain.
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"I think it is obvious that the rest of us need to step up and give Joe Root more support. This year, in particular, he always bats well, but he seems to be in the form of his life," Buttler said while replying to an ANI query during an interaction with select media organised by Sony Network.
"He has had an amazing start to the series and hopefully, that can continue and the rest of us can improve our game to give him more support. We certainly do not want to create more pressure on Joe's shoulders. As a unit, we need to stand up to the level we can," he added.
On being asked about England's questionable tactics to India tailenders Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami on the final day of the 2nd Test at Lord's, Buttler said that it was disappointing that the tactics did not pan out they hoped it would.
{{/usCountry}}On being asked about England's questionable tactics to India tailenders Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami on the final day of the 2nd Test at Lord's, Buttler said that it was disappointing that the tactics did not pan out they hoped it would.
{{/usCountry}}"Yeah, potentially. Sometimes when you have a bowler who can bowl incredibly fast as Mark Wood does against the lower order, it can be to intimidate the lower-order batsmen. We thought it was a good option, obviously, it did not work for us and that was disappointing. But still, I think it can be a good tactic at times and we will try to get our tactics spot on going forward," he said.
On being asked about the verbal duels that happened during the Lord's Test which India won by 151 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series, Buttler said that all of it is in good spirits.
"At times, it can be part and parcel of the game. As a viewer, it is interesting to watch but I think, to be honest, it boils down to 22 ultra-competitive guys on the field who are trying to win for their country. At times, there can be ego and some words can be exchanged. Mostly it is in good spirits, but as a side, we are focused on what we need to do as a group to get back in the Test series," he said.
"Virat Kohli is an incredibly competitive guy, he loves the challenge and competition. To be honest, that is one of the pleasures of playing against him. It is a great battle, it tests you. It is a privilege really to be out there in that competition against him and his team. We enjoy that, we have really competitive guys in our team as well who are desperate to win and it adds to the picture," he signed off.
(Watch England vs India - 3rd Test - LIVE from 3.30 pm IST on SONY SIX (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi) channels from August 25, 2021)