Jos Buttler hailed Adil Rashid as the ‘most important player’ in England’s white-ball team after he starred in the 26-run T20 victory over India in Rajkot.
Having won the first two T20 matches, India would have taken an unassailable lead in the five-match series had they won the third game but the hosts fell 26 runs short of England’s 171-9.
Ben Duckett smashed a 28-ball 51 and Liam Livingstone hit 43 from 24 balls to give England a superb platform after being put into bat by India.
The tourists then lost six wickets for 39 runs in the space of 27 balls to fall to 147-9 at the start of the 17th over.
Rashid and Mark Wood not only survived the remaining 17 balls but managed to get England up beyond 170 despite India spinner Varun Chakravarthy claiming sensational figures of 5-24.
India lost regular wickets during the chase and were always up against it, eventually finishing on 145-9, 27 runs short of a series-clinching victory.
Rashid only took one wicket but his invaluable spell of 1-15 from four overs saw India fall further and further behind the required run-rate and Buttler described the England veteran as his ‘trump card’ after the win.
‘He’s been brilliant,’ England captain Buttler said of the two-time World Cup winner, who also impressed in the second T20 in Chennai, taking 1-14.
‘I always say he’s the most important player for us and he always just seems to keep getting better.
‘He’s got so many different styles of bowling, he’s got so much variety and one of his great skills is in his first couple of balls, he seems to work out exactly how he needs to bowl on that wicket.
‘He’s an absolute trump card to have as a captain. He’s been brilliant the last couple of games.’
Speaking more generally about England’s impressive win, Buttler added: ‘It was a great win and a great performance.
‘So many good performances from across the group so I’m delighted. I just love the way the guys played.
‘We’re absolutely moving in the right direction. We’re really happy with the style we’re trying to play and continuing to be aggressive and taking our shots on with the bat.
‘Our bowlers adapted really well, obviously they can bowl very fast but I thought they showed off their skills as well. They used pace-off deliveries and executed different deliveries very well.’
India captain Suryakumar Yadav also heaped praise on Rashid after the match, calling him a ‘world-class bowler’.
‘With Hardik and Axar in we still had the game in our hands,’ he said.
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‘But credit goes to Adil [Rashid], he bowled really well. We wanted to rotate the strike. That is why he is a world class bowler.
‘You always learn something from a T20 game. We let them get too much at the end.’
Rashid, who is closing in on 400 wickets in international cricket, has been one of the most consistent white-ball bowlers in the world over the past decade.
England will look to level the series against India and set-up a decider when the two teams meet for the fourth T20 on Friday.
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