Jos Buttler calls for calm after Jasprit Bumrah humbling

GEORGE DOBELL AT THE KIA OVAL: While Buttler accepted that batting first on a surprisingly lively surface had been a challenge, he felt England could have handled the situation better

Jos Buttler admitted England's 10-wicket defeat at the hands of India was a "tough loss to take" but insisted there was no need to panic.

Buttler, England's new limited-overs captain, was playing in the same ODI side as Ben Stokes and Joe Root for the first time since the World Cup final at Lord's in 2019. But any hopes that it would prove a glorious reunion were banished as England were blown away in just 25.2 overs when they batted and eventually lost in a game which was completed in only 44 overs.

But while Buttler accepted it was "a really disappointing day", he expressed his continued belief in his players and suggested they would be looking to "put things right" in the second ODI on Thursday.

"You certainly don't want days like that," Buttler said afterwards. "Today is obviously a really disappointing day and it's a tough loss to take.

 "But there's no need to panic. Days like this are few and far between. If I look back over the past five or six years, our batting has been our super strength in this form of the game, and you look at the names of the guys in our team and they are some of the best players we've had. We don't want to look too much into it and try and find too many faults.

"This result doesn't change the fact we're a good team. We've been challenged today and we've come very short, but I have a lot of confidence in the guys that we can come back strongly.

"There's huge trust in that dressing room that there's some brilliant players in there. So, I'll be giving the guys a positive message to get back out there and put things right on Thursday."

^{Jasprit Bumrah ran through England in an innings that scarcely lasted half its allotted overs (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)}

While Buttler accepted that batting first on a surprisingly lively surface had been a challenge, he felt England could have handled the situation better.

"There was obviously a little bit in the wicket early on and I thought Jasprit Bumrah especially exposed that fantastically well," he said. "The big guns coming back in have all been some of the best form of their lives playing Test cricket, so it proves that it wasn't easy out there. But we must look and think: 'Is there a way we can try and manage it better? Is there a way we can try to not lose as many wickets at the start? We've got to learn quickly.'

"We would have wanted to bowl first as well. The pitch did more than we expected. You usually expect a fantastic batting wicket at The Oval, but there was more movement than we've seen.

"But those were the conditions today so we have to ask if there is something we could do better to try and come through it. It might be that losing three wickets in the first 10 overs as opposed to five with, would be a big gain. So, we have to learn and learn quickly." 

Buttler also had warm words for Bumrah, who claimed the remarkable figures of 6 for 19.

 "There's no doubt Bumrah is a fantastic bowler," he said. "He's been one of the leading bowlers in the world for a number of years now and it looks like he's going from strength to strength. He has an incredibly high level of skill and he has a unique action which creates an angle. He can move the ball both ways and he can do it at high pace. It's a pretty good package."

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