Indian opening batsman Abhishek Sharma was in fine form as India inflicted a comprehensive 150-run defeat on England in the fifth and final T20I of the series on Sunday. After the match, even England skipper Jos Buttler was in awe of the young left-hander’s batting, saying it was the cleanest he had ever seen.
Speaking at the post-match presentation (via ESPNCricinfo), Buttler said, “I’ve played quite a lot of cricket, and credit to Abhishek Sharma. That’s as clean a ball-striking as I’ve seen. He played fantastically well. We always sit down and think what more could we have done. But some days, you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition. I thought he played brilliantly well.”
Despite the devastating defeat in Mumbai and the 4-1 series loss, Buttler drew some positives from the series for England and said his team were committed to playing that kind of cricket and would aim to do better in the future.
“We’re disappointed to lose the series, but we’ve done some things well and some things we want to improve on. We want to keep committing to this style of cricket and execute better. India are a fantastic side, especially at home, and we’re better for the experience, the experience of great crowds like this at the Wankhede. Positives: Some of the guys’ bowling performances – even today, Brydon Carse and Mark Wood were outstanding,” Buttler added.
India vs England 5th T20I: Abhishek ends England’s hopes with innings of a lifetime
Abhishek Sharma was in sublime form from the first ball in Mumbai as the left-hander raced through England’s pacers, prompting skipper Jos Buttler to bring in Liam Livingstone in the 5th over to stem the flow of runs. Sharma, however, continued his onslaught and reached his half-century in just 17 balls, just shy of his mentor Yuvraj Singh’s record 12-ball fifty.
While the wickets kept falling at the other end, Sharma did not lose focus and only slowed down a little as he approached his century. The young batsman reached the landmark in just 37 balls, earning a warm round of applause from the Indian dressing room.
Wickets kept falling and the pace of India’s innings slowed from 15-16 runs an over to a final total of 247/9 from 20 overs, but even that proved to be a mammoth total for England. While Mohammed Shami made the first breakthrough for India in the third over, all the bowlers from Varun Chakravarthy to Shivam Dube contributed to the unravelling of this England batting attack. Even Abhishek Sharma chimed in with 2 wickets in an over.
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