The England skipper Jos Butler praised Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for his brilliant knock in the second ODI of the series on February 9, Sunday, in Cuttack. He smashed his 32nd ODI century, scoring 119 runs off 90 balls, hitting seven sixes and 12 fours. His century helped India to win the match by four wickets and clinch the series to their name. He won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant knock in the second ODI of the three-match series.
At present, the Men in Blue are leading the series 2-0 against England. It won't be wrong in saying that the second ODI belongs to Rohit Sharma. He shut the mouth of all the critics who raised questions on his game and form through his bat.
At the post-match presentation, Buttler said that they played nicely with the bat but needed a few of them to push the score to 350. He stated that they tried to get 330-350, but they will keep taking steps in the right direction, although results are not coming, but they will keep going.
"We got into some nice positions with the bat, but we need a few of us to catch fire and push us to 350. Another great innings from Rohit; he's been doing it in ODI cricket for a while. Maybe it skidded on a bit and played well, but the opposition played well. We tried to get to 330-350; maybe that would have been defensible. Just keep taking steps in the right direction, though results are not there, but we need to keep going."
A brilliant knock came from Ben Duckett, who scored 65 runs off 56 balls, and Joe Root, 69 runs off 72 balls, played a key role in England putting up a target of 304 in the first innings. Jos Buttler (34) and Liam Livingstone (41) also helped the team to put up a big score.
England failed to perform with the ball; Jamie Overton was the only one who took 2 crucial wickets of Shubman Gill and KL Rahul. While Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, and Liam Livingstone managed to take a single wicket, Saqib Mahmood and Mark Wood remained wicketless.
The third match of the series between India and England will be played on February 12, Wednesday, at the Narendra Modi Stadium.