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Scoring a century in T20I cricket is no joke. And what if that century comes on one of the sluggish pitches of UAE that too while batting first. Surely, it is not the easiest of things. This could be validated by the fact that the ongoing T20 World Cup saw its first 28 matches with none of the batters reaching the three-figure mark.
Just when everyone was coming to the conclusion that scoring on UAE pitches while batting first is too tough, Jos Buttler defied all odds to register first century of the ongoing mega event. He scored unbeaten 101 off just 67 balls at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in England's game against Sri Lanka on Monday. His remarkable innings was laced with 6 fours and as many sixes.
While the stats of Buttler's complete knock suggest that it was a quickfire innings, the English wicketkeeper actually played it in two parts. The first one included a slow knock where he amassed just 35 runs off the first 38 balls, however, the second half of the innings saw him scoring as much as 66 runs off just 29 balls.
Here is the video of his knock:
Buttler's century guides England to 163/4
Riding on the sensational ton from Buttler, England, who at one point in time were finding it hard to score run-a-ball, posted a competitive total of 163/4. Eoin Morgan also switched gears towards the end and scored 40 off 36 balls. He along with Buttler added 112 runs for the 4th wicket off just 78 balls. Apart from these two, none of the English batters could reach a two-digit score. For Sri Lanka, Wanindu Hasaranga was the standout bowler with figures of 3/21. He claimed the wickets of Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan. Meanwhile, Dushmantha Chameera took the another wicket but he went for 43 runs in his four overs.
In pursuit of the competitive total, Sri Lanka scored 40 runs in the powerplay but lost 3 important wickets. Pathum Nissanka went back to pavilion in the very first over after getting run out. Charith Asalanka, who came in at number 3, became the victim of Adil Rashid, while the same bowler dismissed Kusal Perera.