Pant is fearless and fantastic: Buttler hails Indian star after stunning hundred

Following his side’s crushing five-wicket defeat to India in the third ODI, England white-ball captain Jos Buttler lauded Rishabh Pant for his explosive century, calling him ‘fearless’ and great to watch in all formats.

A blistering century by Rishabh Pant followed by Hardik Pandya’s 71 guided Team India to a five-wicket victory over England in the series decider of the three-match series in Manchester on Sunday.

Pant played a stunning and explosive innings of unbeaten 125 runs in 113 balls.

“Rishabh is a fantastic player. I think it’s his mentality that sets him apart from other players. Rishabh is a fearless cricketer and a fantastic talent. He’s brilliant across all formats and great to watch. I think he gets great backing to play however he wants to play from his team,” said Buttler in the post-match press conference.

England’s white-ball captain Buttler started his full-time captaincy stint on the worst note, losing both the T20I and ODI series by a 1-2 margin to the Rohit Sharma-led India.

Buttler top-scored with 60 off 80 deliveries in England’s 259 all out in 45.5 overs, but that was put in the shadow by Hardik’s 71 off 55 balls in a strong 133-run stand for the fifth wicket with centurion Pant at Old Trafford.

Buttler admitted that he has a lot to learn in his new role as captain, following England’s 2-1 one-day international series defeat to India.

“I think we need to do better. We have not played much ODI cricket in the recent past and I think we will look at the rhythm of the game again. I think there was certainly more swing in the game. We haven’t really got in and had a great partnership. We have played in different conditions in all parts of the world. We just have to play better. We just believe in playing positive cricket,” said England captain.