England’s talismanic all-rounder Ben Stokes showered praise on Jos Buttler. Stokes said Buttler has created his own legacy after leading England to the T20 World Cup triumph. Buttler led from the front after taking over the white-ball captaincy baton from Eoin Morgan.
England defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the T20 World Cup final on Sunday at the MCG to become the first team to hold both ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup at the same time.
Buttler delivered with the bat as he scored 225 runs in six matches at an average of 45 and a blistering strike rate of 144.23. The England captain scored 73 runs against New Zealand in the Super 12 stage in the must-win game and then also scored an unbeaten knock of 80 runs in the all-important semi-final against India.
“When the great man stepped down and Jos took over, you look how quickly he managed to take control of the team and progress it from the legacy that Morgan’s left. Jos has now created his own legacy,” the all-rounder told Sky Sports.
“He’s a guy who everyone follows on the field and it shouldn’t be taken for granted how hard it can be making tactical decisions under pressure in this format,” he added.
On the other hand, Ben Stokes was all praise on Adil Rashid and Sam Curran for bowling superb spells against Pakistan. Rashid returned with figures of 2-22 in his four overs while Curran took 3-12 in his allotted overs. Furthermore, Curran was awarded the Player of the Tournament for taking 13 wickets in seven matches.
“Adil Rashid, Sam Curran, that’s what won us the game. That was a tricky wicket, it was never one that you felt you were ever in on,” Stokes said.
“When you chase totals in games like this you so often forget the hard work that’s gone in before. The way that Sam and Rash and all the bowlers bowled to restrict them…I think that was a huge reason why we didn’t feel under too much pressure with the run chase.
Stokes also played a match-winning unbeaten knock of 52 runs off 49 balls and once again delivered in a pressure situation.
“I never felt like it was out of our hands at all and [I was] just trying to make sure I stayed there as long as I possibly could at the end,” he concluded.
