England's Rashid Hailed as 'Most Important Player' in T20 World Cup Win

England's Jos Buttler has hailed legspinner Adil Rashid as the team's "most important player" after their commanding eight-wicket victory over West Indies in the Super Eight match of the T20 World Cup 2024. Buttler also praised Jonny Bairstow for his "senior player's innings" that helped England chase down the challenging target of 181 with ease.

England's victory was built on a solid bowling performance that restricted West Indies to a manageable total. Rashid played a crucial role, bowling a miserly spell of 4-0-21-1, including the crucial wicket of Andre Russell in the 17th over.

"We keep saying [Rashid] is our most important player, he really has been for a long time," Buttler said. "He's got so much variation and so much threat of taking wickets and also restricting runs."

West Indies captain Rovman Powell admitted that his team was 15-20 runs short and strayed away from their plans against Salt. "We left 15-20 runs out here as a batting group," Powell said. "I will say that we should have put up a better display as a bowling group."

England's chase was anchored by Phil Salt's unbeaten 87 and Bairstow's 26-ball 48 not out. The duo added 97 off 44 balls to see England home with eight wickets and 2.3 overs to spare.

"That was a really good performance from us," Buttler said. "We planned really well, we've been practising well and executed both with the bat and ball and deserved to win."

Buttler was particularly impressed with Bairstow's innings. "He is a class player, he has been for a really long time," Buttler said. "That's what we decided to do, you just keep backing class players. He hasn't had many opportunities but today was an incredibly impressive innings. A really mature, senior player's innings. With a lot of power, he scored at a great gear when the game was just in the balance."

England's victory puts them in a strong position to qualify for the semi-finals. They will face Australia in their next match on October 29.

Tags: #T20WorldCup, #England, #WestIndies, #JosButtler, #AdilRashid