Will Jos Buttler play 4th Test: The English captain talked about the availability of his deputy for the fourth Test against India.
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England captain Joe Root is relieved after scoring a Test century at his home ground after as many as eight years. In what was his 23rd Test century, it was also his third in a row in as many matches in the ongoing series against India.
Having scored 507 runs in five innings at a wonderful average of 126.75, Root has scored more than double the runs scored by the second-highest run-scorer (Lokesh Rahul – 252 runs) in the series.
“As a batter you are expected to go out and score everytime and I am happy I’ve managed to score a few. It’s been a while since I got a hundred in my home ground and I hope we can carry this form forward as a team into the Oval,” Root told Sky Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony after his team defeated India by an innings and 76 runs in the third Test in Leeds today.
Will Jos Buttler play 4th England vs India Test at The Oval?
Root, who is unruffled by all-rounder Sam Curran’s lack of form in this series, labelled veteran England pacer James Anderson as the “GOAT” in cricket’s ancestral format.
While another pacer Ollie Robinson was declared the Man of the Match award at Headingley, Anderson’s first-innings bowling figures of 8-5-6-3 comprising of wickets of Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli were instrumental in bundling out India for 78 in 40.4 overs.
“[James] Anderson churns out performances like that and that’s why he’s the GOAT of Test cricket. He’s very fit and sets an example for the other bowlers,” Root said of Anderson after becoming England’s most successful Test captain ever.
While England wouldn’t want to make multiple changes to a winning combination, they might have to make a forced change as there have been murmurs around vice-captain Jos Buttler’s availability for the remaining matches in the series.
With Buttler and wife Louis Buttler expecting their second child in September, there’s a possibility of the 30-year old player skipping one or both the fourth and fifth Test at The Oval and Old Trafford respectively.
“[Jos] Buttler’s availability will be known in the next few days,” Root answered when about the status of Buttler’s availability. In three Tests of this series so far, Buttler has scored just 72 runs at a paltry average of 14.40 but has grabbed as many as 18 catches behind the stumps.
