England captain Eoin Morgan said he was close to tears when Jos Buttler presented him with a special cap to mark his 100th Twenty20 international.
Morgan, 34, became the first England player to reach 100 caps in the eight-wicket victory over India on Tuesday.
He was part of the team that won the T20 World Cup in 2010 and captained the side that won the 50-over World Cup in 2019.
“His words warmed my heart and I’m very grateful for that,” said Morgan.
“It nearly brought me to tears. It meant a huge amount. He’s a great friend of mine. Our families are quite close.
“Playing in 100 games is a really proud moment for me.”
Vice-captain Buttler made the presentation before the third T20 in Ahmedabad.
Morgan, who became only the fourth man to play 100 T20 internationals, is England’s all-time leading run-scorer in T20 internationals, ahead of Buttler.
“I tried to get across what a special achievement it is and what he’s done for English white-ball cricket,” said Buttler, who made an unbeaten 83 off 52 balls to help put England 2-1 up in the five-match series.
“Today is about him and reaching that milestone. He’s been a pioneer for England white-ball cricketers. As a leader he has taken English white-ball cricket to a place it’s never been before.
“He’s always been ahead of the curve, alongside Kevin Pietersen. They were the two guys that I always looked to in white-ball teams who could do it a bit differently.”
England won with 10 balls to spare after Virat Kohli’s superb unbeaten 77 helped India recover from 24-3 to post 156-6.
Buttler has opened the batting in his past 16 T20s for England, having spent the majority of his 77-game career in the middle order.
On the debate over his best position, Buttler said: “People seem to quite enjoy talking about it. I certainly sometimes feel the pressure of that.
“Every time I do have the opportunity, you want to make a case because there are loads of us that can open the batting.
“I’ve got the full backing from Morgs and that gives me a lot of confidence.”
England will wrap up the series with victory in Thursday’s fourth match at the same venue.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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