Jos Buttler Confident England Can Win Fourth Test vs India

England batsman Jos Buttler scored a crucial 69 on the third day of the fourth Test against India, helping England recover from 122/5 to finish at 260/8 at stumps. After the end of the day's play, Buttler was confident that England could win the fourth Test, hopeful of wear and tear in the pitch helping spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. England, at the end of day 3, had a handy 233-run lead over India. "Yes, definitely (we can win). You've seen the wear and tear in the wicket - even in the first innings as well, there was quite a bit of rough outside the right-hander's off-stump. That's promising for Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid - and with the seamers, we've seen a bit of variable bounce. So I think it's nice to have the runs on the board," said Buttler.

Buttler strung together a 56-run partnership with Ben Stokes (30) and a 55-run partnership with Sam Curran (37 not out) to help recover from a shaky position.

Talking about his partnership with Stokes, he said, "We've batted together in quite a lot of situations in different formats, so that rapport is obviously comforting in a way and allows you to get the best out of each other."

"We've got that right, left-hand combination, trying to rotate the strike and not let bowlers settle. We just went about it the same way - trying to extend the partnership, and slowly and steadily building the lead," Buttler further added.

England did benefit from a change in batting order, with Moeen Ali coming to number three and skipper Joe Root moving down to number four. Root scored 48 before being run-out for the second time in this series. Buttler said Root's demotion was a strategic move.

"It was just a pure tactical decision - Moeen has been in such fantastic form for the last couple of weeks, and bats at number three for Worcestershire. I'm not sure, moving forward, what will happen - but tactically for day 3, it just felt like the right decision. Moeen knew last night, so turning up this morning he was going to bat (at three)."

This was Buttler's ninth Test fifty and he showed a lot of application even though he was troubled by the initial spells from Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami.

Talking about Root, Buttler said, "I thought he batted fantastically well. He looked in great form and it could be the difference of one ball (between three and four) - so for a world-class player like Joe, I don't think it affects him too much. I think in time, stability would be important. At the minute, we're just trying to work out the best combination."

Ravichandran Ashwin didn't trouble the English batsmen as much as India would have liked. Buttler said he still proved to be a handful.

"They have their differences. Moeen sometimes bowls it a bit faster, I think, bit flatter. They're both fantastic bowlers, and it was a hard battle for the left-handers - it looked especially tough when Ashwin bowled over the wicket into that rough," Buttler signed off.

(With PTI Inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team England Cricket Team Jos Buttler England vs India, 2018 England vs India, 4th Test Cricket