England captain Jos Buttler completed 12000 runs in T20 cricket on Wednesday, January 22. In the first T20I against India at the iconic Eden Gardens, the captain led by example and architected a powerplay knock when all the other batters struggled to get going. Despite wickets falling on the other end, the keeper-batter didn’t compromise on his strike rate and played aggressively and eventually completed his half-century in style.
The 34-year-old was 33 runs shy from reaching the milestone. Legendary West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle is the fastest to complete 12000 T20 runs, that is in 343 games while Virat Kohli and David Warner rank second and third respectively. Former internationals Shoaib Malik and Kieron Pollard also feature in the elite list.
Meanwhile, Buttler is the second England international to feature in the list. Alex Hales amassed 13361 runs in the shortest format and was?the fastest English cricketer to reach the milestone before Buttler broke that and became the fourth fastest cricketer to complete 12,000 runs. He also became the seventh cricketer to hit 12000 or more runs in T20 cricket.
Most runs in T20 cricket
| Players | Runs |
| Chris Gayle | 14562 |
| Shoaib Malik | 13492 |
| Kieron Pollard | 13429 |
| Alex Hales | 13361 |
| Virat Kohli | 12886 |
| David Warner | 12757 |
| Jos Buttler | 12035 |
Indian spinners, on the other hand, sucked the life of England’s batting unit. Pacer Arshdeep Singh clinched two quick wickets of Phil Slt and Ben Duckett and later, the spinners took over the business and restricted England to 132 runs in the first innings. Spinner Varun Chakravarthy was the star with the ball with three wickets to his name while Axar Patel clinched two.?
Buttler meanwhile departed after scoring 68 runs off 44 deliveries. He tried to pull Varun for a maximum but Nitish Kumar Reddy picked up a terrific catch to send the cricketer back to the pavilion. England, meanwhile, will have to address their batting unit, which struggled to make a mark in the game, despite heavy dew. Their batters looked clueless against the spinners and it is one area that the Three Lions need to address immediately.?
