- Monday, March 03, 2025
The 36-year-old has put up a masterclass of leg-spin and kept Indian batters on tenterhooks. In this series, he has been instrumental in arresting the Indian run rate
By: India Weekly
ENGLAND skipper Jos Buttler sees veteran leg-spinner Adil Rashid as the team’s most important player in the T20 setup after his special skills were on display in the third match against India in Rajkot.
Rashid put up a masterclass of leg-spin to help England pull one back in the five-match series.
He varied his pace beautifully and got the ball to turn a lot more than all other spinners in operation on Tuesday night.
The India batters were not even looking for boundaries against Rashid who ended up with figures of one for 15 in four overs.
He applied the choke in the middle overs alongside Jamie Overton and got rid of in-form Tilak Varma with a peach of a delivery.
Even in Chennai during the second T20I, Rashid conceded less than four runs per over.
Following the 26-run win, Buttler couldn’t gush enough about the 36-year-old, who has been playing T20 Internationals since 2009.
“He’s the most important player for us, and he always just seems to keep getting better. He’s got so many different styles of bowling, he’s got so much variety.
“One of his great skills is that the first couple of balls he bowls, he seems to work out exactly how he needs to bowl on that wicket, and yeah, he’s an absolute trump card to have as a captain, so yeah, he’s been brilliant the last couple of games,” said Buttler in his post-match press conference.
England had the Indian batters under the pump even in the previous game but Varma’s individual brilliance got the home team over the line.
The visitors were even sharper with the ball on Tuesday and were able to defend 171 comfortably. Besides Rashid, pacer Overton also kept the batters quiet with his variations.
“Yeah, it’s the beauty of being an all-rounder, isn’t it? He (Overton) missed out tonight with the bat, but still impacts the game so much with the ball, so yeah, we know he’ll come good, he’s been playing great for a while now, and he’s a really dangerous hitter with the ball.
“…so the more he’s out here as well, exposed to these conditions, he’s just going to improve all the time, and as I say, guys who can affect the game in all three facets are gold dust,” Buttler, who also praised another all-rounder Brydon Carse.
Still trailing 1-2 in the five-match series, Buttler thinks his team is moving in the right direction.
Suryakumar lauds Rashid
India skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitted his team failed to mop up the England tail after having the visitors on the mat and credited “world-class” spinner Adil Rashid for making life difficult for his batters during their 26-run loss in the third T20I on Tuesday (28).
India had reduced England to 127/8 in 16 overs but allowed the visitors to post 171/9 in 20 overs. In their chase of 172, the hosts managed just 145/9, falling short by 26 runs.
“I felt there would be a little dew later in the day. I feel we had the game in our hands when Hardik and Axar were batting. Credit goes to Adil Rashid, he bowled really well. That’s why he is a world-class bowler. He didn’t allow us to rotate the strike,” Suryakumar said during the post-match presentation.
“I feel you always learn something from a T20 game. I felt when we were bowling around 127/8 to 170, I think that was too much at the end. We’ve got to learn from the batting point of view. Got to go back to the drawing board and learn from our mistakes.” (PTI)
