Jos Buttler backs Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to break his all-time T20 runs record

MANCHESTER: England star Jos Buttler, who surpassed West Indies legend Kieron Pollard to become the leading run-getter in T20 history on Wednesday, backed the teen Indian batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to surpass the record one day.

Buttler climbed the summit of T20 cricket during his side Manchester Super Giants (MSG) match against Welsh Fire in the Men’s Hundred, scoring a quickfire 51* in 20 balls, with two fours and six sixes at a strike rate of 250.00.

In 522 T20s, Buttler has now scored 14,833 runs with nine centuries and 105 fifties, outdoing Pollard (14,803 runs in 746 matches with two centuries) and a long-time record-holding West Indies titan Chris Gayle (14,562 runs in 463 matches with 22 centuries and 88 fifties).

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After setting the record, Buttler, as per Cricinfo quoting Sky Sports, said he was proud to become the highest run-scorer in T20 cricket but said that the record would eventually be broken, adding that the likely person to surpass it could be Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

“It’s really cool, actually, to think you’ve got the most T20 runs out of anyone. Someone will surpass it one day – and his name’s probably [Vaibhav] Sooryavanshi – but it’s a proud moment,” Buttler told Sky Sports as per Cricinfo.

At just 15, Sooryavanshi enjoyed a remarkable run in T20I cricket, scoring 151 runs in three matches against Zimbabwe to claim his maiden Player of the Series award as India completed a 3-0 clean sweep. His success came on the back of a stellar ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup campaign earlier this year, where he amassed 439 runs and was named Player of the Tournament, further highlighting his immense potential.

Buttler said he would have liked to overtake Pollard while playing against MI London with Pollard watching as the head coach, and expressed pride at joining a list of T20 greats.

“We played against MI London last game and it would have been nice to get past Polly while he was there sat in the dugout, but there’s some great names on there, some special players, so I’m really proud of that,” Buttler said.

Coming to the Men’s Hundred match, Welsh Fire elected to bat first at Manchester. Knocks from Matt Short (71 in 47 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) and Phil Salt (48 in 37 balls, with three fours and three sixes) steered them to 155/4 in 100 balls.

During the chase, MSG came out all guns blazing, with Tim Seifert (62* in 36 balls, with 10 fours), Paul Walter (37 in 18 balls, with four boundaries) and Buttler (51* in 20 balls, with two fours and six sixes) chasing the total with nine wickets to spare. (ANI)