T20 World Cup: Eoin Morgan hails Jos Buttler as one of the 'best players in the world'

England captain Eoin Morgan was full of praise for wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler, following his sensational knock against Australia in Dubai on Saturday night. The two teams were battling it out in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Buttler’s unbeaten 71 off 32 balls against Australia helped England pull off a sensational win. Buttler had made nine runs off his first ten balls. However, he made amends soon after, smashing the ball to all corners of the ground.

“Buttler’s still trying to improve his game and get better”

“There was actually a game that we were talking about while he was going bananas out there – back in 2016, where he scored a 46-ball hundred against Pakistan in a 50-over – where very similarly, he just seemed to hit the middle of the bat over and over again. He’s obviously one of the best players in the world and when he comes off like today, it’s very difficult to stop him. I think he’s certainly one of our players – and there are a few of them – that are at the forefront of changing the game. Buttler’s still trying to improve his game and get better against every single bowler that he faces. It’s not just targeting bowlers that might suit him, it’s every bowler. When you’ve got guys that are at the forefront of change within the game – and positive change, taking the game forward type stuff – it says a lot about the guy,” said Morgan after the match, as quoted by Sky Sports.

“Obviously we got off to a good start in the first two games of the tournament and challenge first is always adapting to the conditions away from home and we did that really in the first two games and then again today, the big test against a really strong Australian side. We sort of held up pretty well right from the beginning, holding our nerve and creating opportunities with the ball and then continuing to be relentless with the lengths we want to bowl. We are in good form with the bat. Jason last game and Jos today. We treat everybody with same amount of respect. We go to Sharjah from here and again another challenge there and we are really looking forward to it,” added the England skipper.

“That was pretty much the perfect innings”

Liam Livingstone was full of praise for Buttler, hailing the cricketer for smashing some massive sixes.

“Every single six that he hit was 15-20 rows back – some 50 rows back. I’ve said it all along: he’s the best hitter of a white ball in the world, and when he gets on a roll like that, there’s no stopping him. That was pretty much the perfect innings, a clinic of white-ball power hitting. It was a pleasure to just sit there and watch a genius at work,” said Livingstone in an interaction with Sky.

Mumbai Indians (MI) Mahela Jayawardene who first promoted Buttler to open for the franchise in 2017, termed the wicketkeeper-batsman as someone who just hits looks to hit straight.

“It’s very minimum movement. He just hits straight. When you have the option of the scoop, the bowlers are always under pressure with which field to go to. At the same time, he’s probably one of the best players through the off side as well: he opens himself up and the hands come through. He’s a good player of spin: he has the reverse-sweep, he comes down and hits – we saw the way he controlled Zampa [and how] he never let him settle into that line and length,” said Jayawardene.