Jos Buttler: "It's certainly key not to panic, not to look too much into it and find too many faults"; Watch the second ODI between England and India at Lord's, live on Sky Sports Cricket on Thursday (12.30pm on air, 1pm start)
Tuesday 12 July 2022 19:53, UK
England white-ball captain Jos Buttler insists their batting remains their "super strength" and would not be derailed despite being bowled out for just 110 by India in the first one-day international on Tuesday.
Having lost the preceding T20I series 2-1, England packed their top six with returning Test stars Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root for the opening game at The Kia Oval, only to be rolled over in just 25.2 overs.
Stokes and Root both failed to score, as did Jason Roy and Liam Livingstone, while Bairstow's career-best form with the bat did not carry over as he was dismissed for seven.
Indian duo Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, made batting look easy as they rattled along to a 10-wicket victory in just 18.4 overs.
Buttler has now lost three of his four games as permanent skipper since Eoin Morgan's retirement, but he remains confident nothing drastic is required.
"You certainly don't want days like that to come, and they do come few and far between, but today's one of those days and it's tough to take," he said.
"It's certainly key not to panic, not to look too much into it and find too many faults. India bowled fantastically well and we didn't manage to deal with that as well as we'd have liked.
"But, if I look back over the past five or six years, batting has been our super strength in this form of the game.
"You look at the names of the guys in there, they are some of the best players we've had so there's no need to panic at all and not much time to dwell on it either.
"We'll try and learn from it as much as we can but we'll stick to what we know and there's huge trust in that dressing room that there are brilliant players in there.
"We need to be positive, get back out there and put things right when we play on Thursday."
The game proved a disappointing get together for the World Cup-winning unit of Roy, Bairstow, Root, Stokes and Buttler - playing an ODI together for the first time since the 2019 final.
Circumstances have ensured they have not made the same XI in the past three years, with Covid restrictions, rest and rotation and Stokes' 2021 hiatus all factors.
England's schedule means things are going to remain tricky for those who are first-choice players across the formats, but Buttler understands the compromises that need to be made.
"It's a long time since we have all played together and it's tough," he said.
"I think the schedules are increasingly difficult for all format players to play all the games, so we just have to be careful to manage all those guys.
"The key is to turn up to those ICC events clear with what your best team is, but also with guys fresh and as good to go in those tournaments as they can be. There will be times in bilateral series that guys miss out because it is just unattainable for guys to play every match."
Watch the second ODI between England and India, from Lord's, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 12.30pm on Thursday.
