England skipper Jos Buttler on Sunday (March 28) said that all-rounder Sam Curran had shades of former India captain MS Dhoni in his gusty unbeaten knock of 95-run which went in vain as a spirited bowling performance by India helped the hosts to defeat England by seven runs in the third and final ODI.
With the win, India have clinched the three-match series 2-1. Virat Kohli-led side won all the series' in this England's tour of India. India clinched the four-match Test series 3-1 and then went onto win the five-match T20I series 3-2.
Curran and Moeen Ali both share the same dressing room with Dhoni in the Chennai Super Kings squad.
"I'm sure Sam would want to talk to MS about tonight's innings. I'm sure there were shades of the way that he (MS Dhoni) would have liked to take the game down if he was in that situation. He's a great person for Sam to have a conversation with when he meets up MS (in the IPL)," Buttler said in a virtual post-match press conference.
"We know what an amazing cricketer, finisher MS Dhoni is. A brilliant learning curve for all our players to share dressing rooms with guys like MS' stature in the game. I'm very excited for them," he added.
Talking about the game Buttler admitted that England lacked big partnerships in the middle but he lauded Curran and Adil Rashid for putting up a great showing for the visitors.
"There was always genuine belief that run-rate was never an issue," Buttler said, as England kept consistent tabs with a requirement that, while Adil Rashid was on hand to keep knocking the singles and rotate the strike, rarely got above seven an over. Adil and Sam played brilliantly well and were whittling down the score," Buttler said.
"And then it was great for Sam to take ownership, and to take us all the way down to the wire. Anytime a game starts to come within reach, that's when it starts to get harder. Everyone on the ground started to get a bit tense, and the guys in the dug-out as well, but we're all very proud of the way Sam played. He showed all the traits that we know he has, an abundance of character, and the skill level he has embodies what we're about as a team," he added.
Earlier, India's batting unit displayed a change of approach in the third ODI and this ensured that despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the hosts posted a total of 329.
Pant (78), Pandya (64), and Shikhar Dhawan (67) registered 50-plus scores as India set a 330-run target for the visitors. The Virat Kohli-led side then restricted England to 322/9 to win the match and the series.
