GEORGE DOBELL: Buttler also addressed the missed chances in the third ODI, both his own missed stumping and Craig Overton's missed catch
Jos Buttler admitted he had a bit to learn as a captain as England slipped to defeat in the Royal London One-Day series against India.
Buttler scored 60 with the bat, the only half-century an England player made all series, but missed a stumping chance in the field off Rishabh Pant which proved crucial as India won by five-wickets. Pant was on 18 at the time but went on to make 125. It meant England had lost their first ODI series since Buttler replaced Eoin Morgan as permanent limited-overs captain. It is only their third home series defeat since the start of the 2015 summer.
Afterwards Buttler admitted he had found the demands of the job "a challenge" and might need "some time" to feel really comfortable in the job.
"I'm learning a lot," Buttler said. "I have certainly found the first week of captaincy busy but feel a lot more comfortable now.
"There's been lots of games in a very short space of time, which I think has been a challenge. Sometimes it would be nice to have a day where you can just reflect a bit and not always be thinking.
Buttler missed a chance to dismiss Rishabh Pant [Stu Forster/Getty Images]
"In terms of the captaincy, I'm quite a young captain. But I have lots of opportunity to grow and to learn about the role. And I think it will take a bit of time. I'm not one to try and run before I can walk.
"At times I have found captaincy and keeping wicket fine. I missed a chance today but I don't think that's got anything to do with captaining. I am an experienced cricketer but I am young captain so I'm not worrying too much about that. I have lots to learn lots to work out and I need to time to do that.
"I feel really good about my own game. I've been in the best form of my life and you don't lose that overnight. But I'm just learning the art of captaincy: what it looks like to me; what's my style. That will develop over time and with experience. I want to accelerate the learning but sometimes you need some time. You can't buy experience."
Buttler also admitted that the missed chance – and a top-edge from Hardik Pandya which Craig Overton, at fine, appeared to mis-judge – "hurt" England's chances. And he admitted a series of dismissals caught on the boundary was "just poor batting".
"If you give good players a second chance, there's a good chance they'll hurt you," he said. "If we take those chances, there's a good chance we'll win the game. India had a long tail. But with the score we put up, we were going to need to take all our chances if we were to win the game.
"We just haven't got in and had long partnerships. Every time we have, we have started to score. We're talking about some of the best players we've ever had in English cricket. They have incredible experience. And they just haven't got in.
"We just have to play better, it's as simple as that. We haven't played our best by a long stretch."
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