England captain Jos Buttler has showered praise on Rohit Sharma for walking the talk with his aggressive batting in the white-ball formats. Rohit has led from the front and has played a key role in his team’s aggressive style of batting in limited-overs formats.

Buttler hailed Rohit for bringing a much-needed change in Indian cricket and said they also want to follow suit. Rohit had scored 597 runs in 11 matches of the ODI World Cup 2023 at an impressive average of 54.27 and a blistering strike rate of 125.95.

Jos Buttler said in the press conference, “If I look back at that World Cup, the two teams in the final were playing a really positive and aggressive brand of cricket. You think of the way Travis Head took that final on with the bat, so you see it can be successful. Obviously, Rohit takes a lot of credit for the way he’s come out and played himself as a captain and pushed India more towards that style of cricket, so absolutely, we want to be exactly the same.”

Meanwhile, England suffered a 1-4 T20I series loss against India and they would be determined to bounce back in the ODI series before the all-important Champions Trophy. Buttler said it will be crucial for them to execute their plans in the three-match ODI series.

“We want to find ways to put pressure on the opposition with the bat. You’ve got to take wickets, I think, and it’s crucial you see how, if you let guys bat for a period of time, they can go on to hurt you. So, we’ll be desperate to try and find ways of taking wickets. It’s always about execution, really. Whether you want to be aggressive, conservative, or measured, you’ve still got to go out there, execute it, and play it well,” said Buttler.

The first ODI between India and England will be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur on Thursday.