'Opening is is my favourite position to bat in T20 cricket' - Jos Buttler after his performance against Australia

England’s limited-overs vice-captain Jos Buttler has emerged as a true match-winner for his team in the Australia tour of England. In the three-match T20I series, the hosts have registered their victory by clinching the first and second match by 2 runs and 6 wickets respectively. The teams will now lock horns with each other on the final match of the T20I series on September 8 at Southampton.

In the first T20 International against Australia, Buttler had opened the innings with Jonny Bairstow. England had lost Bairstow cheaply in the fourth over but Buttler and Dawid Malan stitched a vital partnership as they smashed 44 runs off 29 balls and 66 off 43 balls respectively taking the team’s total to 162.

For the second T20 International, the wicketkeeper-batsman smashed not out 77 runs off 54 balls as the hosts chased the target of 158. He was also named as the player of the match for his incredible innings that resulted in England winning the encounter by six wickets.

I’m very happy to do whatever the team needs of me: Jos Buttler

Speaking about his performance, Buttler reckoned that opening the batting is “my favourite position to bat” in T20 cricket. The right-handed batsman had first opened the innings in T20Is in 2018 after playing about 53 T20I as a middle-order batsman. Since his promotion as an opener, Buttler has scored four fifty-plus scores at a strike-rate of 157.73.

“It probably is my favourite position to bat in T20 cricket. I’ve had most of my success in T20 at the top, but that’s natural – if you bat in the top three in T20, it’s the best place for everyone,” Jos said as quoted by Sky Sports.

“We’ve probably got eight or nine guys who’d stick their hand up to bat in the top three; I’m very happy there, but I’m also very happy to do whatever the team needs of me. I’ve played a lot of my career – T20 and one-day cricket – batting in the middle, so I’m very comfortable doing that as well. It’s really for the coach and captain to decide,” he added.

The 29-year-old further added that it feels great to finish the game for the team. Showering praises on the team, Buttler said that England has got a lot of strength in the middle and has a lot of options to choose from, which will help them in their future endeavours.

“We’ve got lots of strength in depth; it’s something that is the mark of good teams, good players fighting over positions and that will serve us well going forward. It was a great feeling to be able to walk off at the end, having won the game for your team – obviously a big game for us, with the chance to win the series, which we were determined to do,” Buttler concluded.