Maybe I should have just walked away: Jos Buttler

England skipper Jos Buttler was definitely not the in the best of moods after suffering a 34-run defeat at the hands of Bangladesh. The hosts eked out a narrow victory in the 2nd ODI to level the series 1-1 with a game still to play. What stood out as an ugly turnout in the match was when the players were involved in a heated exchange.

It all started in the 28th over, when Buttler was dismissed by Taskin Ahmed. The umpire initially turned down the lbw appeal. Bangladesh players were convinced that they had the main man and went up for the referral. Three reds and it meant Buttler was making the long way back to the pavilion. The departure of Buttler after scoring 57 meant England crashing to a defeat.

However, things did not end right there. A few players – Mahmadullah in particular – gave a verbal send off to Buttler, which certainly did not go down well with the English skipper. He retaliated back and the umpires had to intervene to ease out the situation. The heated exchange continued after the match as well.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes and Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal were seen in an ugly shoulder barging while shaking hands. Speaking about the same after the match, Jos Buttler said he did not like the way Bangladesh players celebrated. He felt things went a little overboard. He lost his cool too and reasoned that it was their celebration that provoked him to lose his temper. “Mainly just the way they celebrated by running towards me and giving me a bit of a send-off,” quoted the English skipper.

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However, he further added that perhaps the celebration was justified since his was the match-turning wicket at that stage. Also, he admitted that he could have simply walked away and avoided everything that happened. “But emotions were running high, they were obviously delighted to get the wicket, maybe I should have just walked away,” he quoted.

Commenting on the involvement of Stokes in the post-match argument with Tamim Iqbal, Buttler said that there had to be a reason why Stokes behaved that way. “Obviously emotions run high, and Ben is an emotional guy, but he would not have reacted like that if nothing had happened,” he quoted.

Meanwhile, Stokes also took to Twitter to show his disappointment. “Congrats to Bangladesh on the win tonight, they outplayed us, what I won’t stand for is someone putting a shoulder to my team-mate at handshakes,” he tweeted.

Bangladesh skipper Mortaza felt both teams went too far. He said that the players from both sides must control their emotions. “I don’t know who spoke to Buttler. I was focusing on the review that I took, and then I got excited by the decision,” he said. “Sometimes, a lot of things happen in the heat of the moment. But players from both sides should control themselves,” said Mortaza.

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Citing the reasons for the defeat, Buttler said that his side should have been a little more attacking.  “I thought we could have maybe gone out there and tried to stamp our authority on the run chase. I think that’s what we want to be as a side now. I’d rather be 60 for three off 10 than trying to work our way there,” quoted Buttler.