It wasn't too long ago when India were playing in England that Jos Buttler was scratching around for some batting form. He skipped the IPL, did his own training, and now has come back as the limited-overs monster that we have always known him to be.
His 101* off 67 balls was the cornerstone of England all but sealing the semis berth, but the keeper-batsman's contribution wasn't just restricted to that.
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With the dew setting in, Sri Lanka were threatening to make a match of it with skipper Dasun Shanaka holding fort with the bat in the 18th over. But a brilliant run-out by Buttler to dismiss Shanaka took the fight out of Lanka, who finally went down by 26 runs. In the over before that, another brilliant team catch in the deep by Jason Roy and Sam Billings to dismiss the dangerous Wanindu Hasaranga (34) put the brakes on the Lankans as they were closing in on a brilliant comeback win.
But before that, it was Buttler -- the first England batsman to score centuries in all three formats in international cricket -- who set it up for the 2010 champions. On a Sharjah pitch that was far from conducive for big-hitting, Buttler played an exceptional innings to notch up his first T20 century that helped England fight back from a tight corner. He brought up his century off the last ball of the innings -- a leg-side full toss from medium-pacer Dushmantha Chameera that was deposited into the galleries. It was his innings that helped England reach 163-4 after being reduced to 35-3 off six overs.
The Lankan team management might have missed a trick by going in with only two spinners - Wanindu Hasaranga (3-21) and Maheesh Theekshana (0/13). As long as the two spinners were in action, Lanka threatened to take control of the game. To England's credit, they did not panic at that stage. Buttler and captain Morgan (40 off 35 balls), who has been struggling for form, decided to play out the difficult part.
But once the spinners were out of action, both cut loose, especially Buttler. The England batter was still 13 short of his century going into the final over and he was so confident of getting the big shot, that he even refused a single to Moeen Ali in the third ball after hitting a couple of boundaries. And then the final-ball six brought about the ton that he so richly deserved.
