Jos Buttler’s sparkling knock led England to win over Sri Lanka in opening T20I

England’s wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler’s half-century and a quick-fire of 36 runs by opener Jason Roy led the world-top ranked T20I team thrash Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their series opener in Cardiff on Wednesday. England team had to chase the target of 130 runs and the team chased it down with 17 balls spare along with Buttler’s unbeaten score of 68 runs off 55 balls and Jonny Bairstow remained unbeaten on 13 runs.

Opener Jason Roy lost his wicket for 36 runs off 22 balls due to a marvellous catch by Danushka Gunathilaka, who dived to his left to pluck the ball out of thin air, off the bowling of Dushamantha Chameera in the 10th over but mighty England were in complete control by that stage. Isuru Udana got David Malan’s wicket as he departed for seven runs. On the other hand, Buttler, in the company of Bairstow – who slog-swept a massive six into the stands off Akila Dananjaya to level the scores and guided the hosts home in style.

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Kusal Perera’s knock of 30 runs and Gunathilaka’s 19 runs made the only other noteworthy contribution as Sam Curran took two wickets giving 25 runs and Adil Rashid took two wickets with giving 17 runs which damaged the hosts in a disciplined bowling performance on a two-paced pitch. The second T20I will take place at the same venue on Thursday before the final match in Southampton on Saturday. After T20I, both teams will face each other in three ODIs starting from June 29.