Jos Buttler added another milestone to his decorated international career on Tuesday as he became just the second England cricketer to play 200 One-Day Internationals. The experienced wicketkeeper-batter reached the landmark during the opening ODI of the three-match series against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Only former England captain Eoin Morgan, who finished his career with 225 ODIs, has played more matches for England in the format. Buttler made his ODI debut against Pakistan in Dubai on February 21, 2012, and has since established himself as one of England’s finest white-ball players. Over the last 13 years, he has played a key role in England’s rise as a dominant limited-overs side, including their historic 2019 ODI World Cup triumph. The 34-year-old also captained England in white-ball cricket before handing over the leadership to Harry Brook. England opted to bat first after winning the toss at Edgbaston. Skipper Brook said the surface looked good for batting and hoped it would assist the spinners later in the game. “We’re gonna have a bat today. Looks like a good surface, don’t quite know what’s gonna happen, but we fancy our chances with the bat first. Hopefully, we can get a little bit of spin in the second innings,” Brook said at the toss. India captain Shubman Gill admitted he would have preferred to bowl first but welcomed the return of several senior players to the squad. “Yeah, definitely most of the seniors are back. We have got Virat Bhai, Rohit Bhai, KL and Boom back in the squad. So the experience is going to be massive for us,” Gill said. Virat Kohli returned to international cricket after nearly seven months, having missed the home ODI series against Afghanistan due to a leg injury. India fielded three frontline seamers in Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar, while Shivam Dube made his first ODI appearance in almost two years. England XI: Jacob Bethell, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson, Josh Tongue, Adil Rashid. India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna.
