Jos Buttler, who scored his maiden Test century in the Trent Bridge Test against India on Tuesday, August 21, said that the achievement was his proudest moment with the national side.

The wicket-keeper-batsman was in and out of the England Test squad for the best part of his career, but has made an astonishing comeback to the long-format side in the past few months.

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“I was never sure if I’d ever play Test cricket again so all those thoughts go through your head when you’re out there and start to get close (to a hundred). Test cricket is really tough – it tests you in all sorts of ways and this is definitely my proudest moment in an England shirt,” he said, reflecting on his battling innings of 106 on the fourth day.

“It’s been a long time coming and a few months ago it was a million miles away. It’s a huge moment for me.”

India are just one wicket away from getting their first win of the series and making it 2-1, but the visitors had to put in a lot of hard work to get through England’s middle order in the second innings. Buttler stitched a defiant partnership of 169 with Ben Stokes for the fourth wicket, putting up a commendable fight after being pushed against the wall.

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“It was very important for us to show a lot of character and fight and not give it to India easily and we did that really well throughout the day, even the two guys (Adil Rashid and James Anderson)  at the end they’re making sure we come back for a fifth day,” he added.

“We knew the second new ball was going to be a big phase – it’s disappointing we couldn’t make it last a bit longer.”

Buttler applied himself brilliantly on the day, capitalising on being dropped by Rishabh Pant in the 27th over of the innings. His knock, which lasted 176 deliveries, was a counter-attacking effort that included 21 boundaries.

“Something I try and do is read the situation and play accordingly,” the 27-year-old said. “We were just trying to work through small passages of play. You can’t (overstate) how much luck plays a part – human error, a dropped catch and I wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

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“Trying to focus on the moment and play each ball on its merit within your gameplan is all you’re trying to do and if it means they bowl well and you play out four maidens you try and trust your defence to get you through that.”

“To show you can do it for your team and that you hopefully belong is maybe the biggest thing.”

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