England might have lost at Trent Bridge but for Jos Buttler, the game marked a comeback

His team might have failed to clinch the series at Trent Bridge losing the third Test match to India by 203 runs, but for Jos Buttler, it was a comeback game. The 27-year-old hit a century in the second innings of the match to pull England out of dire straits. They were reduced to 62 for 4 while chasing 521 before Buttler hit a 106 off 176 balls to resurrect the innings.

The wicketkeeper-batsman who was also England’s highest scorer in the first innings did not feature in the team’s scheme of things for the longer format for over a year. He did not play a single Test in 2017 and was called to the Test team in May after a gap of one-and-half years when he only played the game in colours. But his performance at Trent Bridge showed that Buttler can’t be written off for the red-ball format.

He did not have a single Test century till the Trent Bridge game and averaged 32.33 in 22 matches after making debut in the 2014 series against India. Buttler did not a lot for himself in Tests and expressed that saying, “I was never sure if I’d ever play Test cricket again. All those thoughts go through your head while you’re out there as well and you start to get close and you’re trying to concentrate on the ball. I never thought this would happen so to try to make sure it does. Definitely times when I thought that race was run,” he told the media at the end of Day 4.

The right0hander put on 169 runs with Ben Stokes for the fifth wicket to put up some resistance in the second innings of the third Test but once he was trapped before the wickets by Jasprit Bumrahwith the second new ball, it was all over for the hosts.

Buttler has shown a good transformation

Buttler had an impressive outing against Pakistan in the two-Test series in June that followed the Indian Premier League where he had a sensational season. He scored two half centuries against the visitors, the second of which was a match-winning effort which reaffirmed the man’s transformation from a dashing batsman into one suited to the Test mould.

Though he has played a lot of explosive innings in the limited-overs format, a century in Tests was more satisfying for him, said Buttler.

England lost the third Test at Trent Bridge by 203 runs and the series now moves to Southampton where the fourth game will begin on August 30.

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