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England sealed the T20I series against Australia by defeating the visitors by 6 wickets and taking an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match contest at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Sunday.
Opening batsmen Jos Buttler delivered a glorious demonstration of how to pace a run chase. The target of 158 was not formidable, but the Australians were well aware that such middling scores can be tricky to overhaul.
However, with Buttler at the crease, there was no slip-up. He smashed an unbeaten 77 from 54 deliveries and finished the match with seven balls to spare with a straight six off Adam Zampa. So now, if England wins the final game on Tuesday (September 08), they will overtake Australia as the No. 1 T20I side in the ICC rankings.
Buttler’s casual actions at non-striker’s end
Meanwhile, Buttler has again been trapped under the scanner of a fan’s eyes. A screenshot taken from the first T20I between England and Australia exposed Buttler’s feet out of his crease before the ball was being delivered. It seems like the English wicket-batsman hasn’t learned from his previous action and continues to back up too far at non-striker’s end despite being ‘mankaded’ twice earlier.
In the same light, an eagle-eyed fan has alerted Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who ‘mankaded’ Buttler in the last edition of IPL. The fan took to Twitter and wrote: “He probably won’t see this. But just in case you do, @ashwinravi99, this is your pre-match viewing for whenever Delhi Capitals play Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.”
He probably won't see this. But just in case you do, @ashwinravi99, this is your pre match viewing for whenever Delhi Capitals play Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. pic.twitter.com/Xu1NpAiIc8
— Aaditya Narayan (@AadityaN_28) September 5, 2020
Though Buttler has been ‘mankaded’ twice in his career, the second incident got more infamous as it was affected by Ashwin during an IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals in 2019.