Buttler opens up on poor outings, Joe Root's motivating words prior to Manchester heroics

After breaking his streak of poor performances at Manchester, wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler revealed that he h thoughts of being dropped from squ if he failed to perform. Guiding England to victory in first Test, Buttler played a spectacular inning of 75 runs under pressure. Buttler h been struggling for a while with bat and behind wicket as well. 

“At times re’s been some lonely nights thinking about it. Definitely thoughts go through your he. ‘Potentially if I don’t score any runs, I’ve played my last game’ - those are kind of things that are in your he. I’m aware I didn’t keep well, I missed some chances and at this level, you can’t afford to do that matter how many runs you score. You’ve got to be better, I kw that," Buttler told Sky Sports.

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wicketkeeper-batsman also revealed how skipper Joe Root motivated him before match by reminding him of his capabilities. “Joe actually said before, ‘remember who you are, you enjoy chasing targets down, try to limit it to a one-day game’,” Buttler said. 

England draw first blood

After being bowled out early in first innings, Pakistan h set a target of 276 for Englishmen. Pakistan struck early as y got rid of Rory Burns, but skipper Joe Root and Dominic Sibley got toger to stitch a partnership. partnership was n broken by visitors' first inning hero - Yasir Shah - as he sent back Sibley. A brilliant delivery by young gun Naseem Shah sent Root packing and Shah struck again as he got key scalp of all-rounder Ben Stokes early in his innings. After Pope fell, Butler and Woakes came out all guns blazing and snatched a three-wicket victory. 

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Masood, Shah's heroics go in vain

Yasir Shah's key 4 wickets in first innings and two in second innings were lost in vain in match. Opener Shan Masood's heroics which included a brilliant century was also washed down drain. Masood scored 159 runs in his first innings as he held one side strong while his teammates constantly lost ir wicket on or side. Masood's 159 and Abbas' initial spell also turned tables in Pakistan's favour, however, a wonderful comeback by Jos Butler helped England clinch first Test. 

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