Jos Buttler continued his fine form for England with an undefeated 63 at lunch on day two of the fifth and final Test against India.
Following his century at Trent Bridge and 69 at the Ageas Bowl, Buttler righted the England ship after yesterday’s middle order wobble left them precariously placed at 198-7 overnight.
Buttler took his overnight score of 11 and worked his way patiently to a well-played 50 off 84 balls, including five fours. Buttler found solid support in the form of Stuart Broad, with the pair bringing up an unexpected 50 partnership in just 61 balls.
Broad went into lunch with his score on 36 off just 51 balls (his highest score of the series), with the pair having added an invaluable 90 runs for the ninth wicket. Buttler will be able to enjoy his lunch having scored 63 off 104 balls and helped move England’s score up to 304-8 off 115 overs.
Buttler is currently the second highest run scorer in the series with 323 runs (ave 46.14), almost 100 runs ahead of third-placed Sam Curran, but 221 runs behind series leader Virat Kohli, who sits on a phenomenal 544 runs (ave 68.00).
Jasprit Bumrah took the only wicket to fall in the morning session when he trapped Adil Rashid leg before for 15 off 51 balls. Bumrah’s lunchtime figures were 3-64, while the equally dangerous Ishant Sharma pipped his teammates by taking 3-62, conceding just two runs to the over.
Photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
