England captain was in awe of India's Abhishek Sharma after the fifth India vs England T20I in Mumbai on Sunday (Feb 2). Sharma played an innings of 135 off 54 balls at an astonishing strike rate of 250 with 13 sixes and seven fours. Thanks to him, India posted a huge total of 247 runs and won the match by 150 runs after dismissing England for a paltry 97.

Advertisment

"We're obviously disappointed," Buttler said about the loss at the post-match presentation. The England skipper, however, gave due credit to Sharma.

Also Read: IND vs ENG 5th T20I: 'This is the best I've...', feels Varun Chakravarthy on his performance

"I've played quite a lot of cricket, and credit to Abhishek Sharma. That's as clean a ball-striking as I've seen. He played fantastically well. We always sit down and think what more could we have done. But some days, you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition. I thought he played brilliantly well," reckoned Buttler.

Advertisment

Abhishek credits coaches and captain for his innings

Abhishek, who bowls part time spin as well, took 2 wickets in one over and was rightfully declared Player of the Match.

“You can ask any player, such matches are very few (and far between). I would say it was all possible because of the efforts I put in the practice, the backing I got from the coaches and the captain when I was not getting the runs or not bowling well,” Abhishek said about his innings after the match

Advertisment

“All these things calculate (work out well) at the end, and I had the belief that on my day, I will play an innings like this,” he added.

During his innings, the young batter broke multiple records, including the second-fastest 50 and 100 for India. He had reached his fifty off just 17 balls—second fastest to his mentor Yuvraj Singh's 12-ball effort in 2007—and scored ton off 37 balls—right behind Rohit Sharma's 35-ball record for India.