England captain Jos Buttler termed his team's 10-wicket victory in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final as "brilliant" but said he wouldn't want to get too ahead of himself before the final against Pakistan on Sunday. (More Cricket News)
England dished out a dominating performance as they restricted India to 168 for six and then knocked off the runs with four overs to spare and without losing a single wicket.
"Yeah, it's a brilliant performance. To play so well in a semifinal of a World Cup is great. Don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves and sort of pat ourselves too much on the back for tonight. We're obviously into a final which we're really looking forward to," said Buttler after playing a key role with his 80 not out.
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"We enjoyed the game this evening, and we can talk about it in the changing rooms and enjoy that performance, but I don't want us to get too far ahead of ourselves. We've come up against a Pakistan team in red-up form in a final of a World Cup.
"And again, that's going to be such an amazing occasion, one we'll go and enjoy as much as we can and express ourselves and try and show off our talent."
Asked if it was one of the finest T20I performance by an English team, he agreed instantly.
"Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Every game you play, it's a great honour. Yeah, to play against India in this kind of environment, in a fantastic cricket stadium, absolutely, it's immensely satisfying," he said.
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PITCH DIDN'T CHANGE AT ALL
While some of the Indian players' feedback to their coach Rahul Dravid was about the pitch being tacky (slow), Buttler was completely dismissive of that notion.
"I don't think so really. Obviously, there was a little bit of spin in the wicket when you drove into the surface, but I thought it was a good wicket. The groundsman was telling me before the game it was a good wicket, and glad to trust him," he said.
He also added that the track suited both teams equally.
"I think it suited both teams. I thought the wicket was good. If a team can score 170 for none, it's a good pitch. Adil Rashid bowled brilliantly today. He was outstanding. His performance was great."
Hardik Pandya smashed a 33-ball 63 to prop up India's total and Buttler said his performance at the back end shows that the wicket was good.
"Yeah, absolutely. I think the way they played in the back 10 overs they scored heavily in that period, which I think showed what a good wicket it was. The dimensions can be tough to defend, as well. So yeah, I was confident in the wicket," he said.
"I thought the first 12, 14 overs of our bowling innings was outstanding. I think taking that early wicket, the way we set them back, the way we held them put a lot of pressure. Fantastic innings from Hardik Pandya to get them up to that score."
