Jos Buttler admitted he had started to feel the pressure before he smashed 131 to send England to the top of the T20 world rankings with a Vitality Series whitewash over India.
A run of 18 matches in this format without reaching 40 had increased Buttler’s doubters, but he silenced critics in supreme fashion at the Ageas Bowl with an exhibition in clean-hitting, smashing eight sixes on his way to a first international century in three years.
Buttler’s second T20I hundred occurred in an incredible stand of 233 with captain Harry Brook, who made 95 not out and played his part in a final effort of 257 for three, which represented a second-highest total for England in this format and a new best partnership.
It always looked a long shot for India to prevent a 4-0 whitewash in the Vitality Series and while Ishan Kishan hit 56, the tourists ended on 201 for eight to lose by 56 runs.
T20 opener Buttler was candid afterwards and whilst he never felt external pressure, he acknowledged a burning desire to get back in the runs and dedicated his 15th century for England in all formats to his late father John, who died in August last year.
“Falling short of my own expectations is the main source of pressure,” Buttler said.
“You only ever have two options. You either give up or get out there and have another go.
“Going to the IPL and playing really well gave me a lot of belief that my game is very much still there. I did feel the pressure probably coming back into this shirt and wanting to do it again in this shirt.
“When you go a long time without scoring runs, you’re thinking the guys at the top might be thinking it’s time to move you on.
“Yeah, I mean probably what helped me today actually is going, ‘do you know what, unless you start scoring runs again then there’s probably a conversation to be had,’ because there’s some brilliant players on the outside pushing.
“In a weird way, that gave me a lot more freedom to know if I was going to fail, I’ll do it on my own terms.
“It’s a really special thing to play for England, I absolutely love doing it and yeah, days like today feel amazing.
“Just been a long time coming. I suppose you have those days where you wonder if you’ll ever score a hundred again in an England shirt and obviously delighted to do that.
“My dad passed away nearly a year ago now and it’s something I have wanted, to score a hundred and it’s been on my mind a bit so, yeah more relief than anything.”
Buttler’s explosive innings of 131 ensured England won in Southampton to knock India off top spot of the T20 world rankings and put another feather in the cap of white-ball captain Brook, who is a candidate to take charge of the Test team after Ben Stokes’ retirement.
Asked if Brook and head coach Brendon McCullum could translate this T20 success into red-ball cricket, Buttler said: “Yeah, very confident.
“I think him and Baz are a great double act. He’s led the team seriously well and Harry’s playing some incredible cricket. It is fantastic to watch.
“Yeah, I just think they’re really aligned and they give a lot of clarity and a lot of conviction with their methods.”
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