Jos Buttler has gone ahead of MS Dhoni, says Michael Vaughan

What's the story?

England's Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan believes that their limited-overs wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler has gone beyond India's MS Dhoni in all the formats.

"The Indians will go nuts because they’ll say ‘there’s MS Dhoni’. Well, I think Buttler’s just gone ahead of MS Dhoni because of his approach and because of the power he brings," he told BT Sports.

In case you didn't know..

In the third ODI between Australia and England at Sydney, Buttler smashed a rapid 100* from only 83 balls to lift England to a healthy score of 302/6.

His knock included 6 fours and 4 sixes and he added 113 in an unbeaten stand for the seventh wicket with Chris Woakes.

England were placed precariously at 189/6 after being 107/3 at one stage after which Buttler, from number six, combined with Woakes to give England a 16-run win and an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series with two matches to play.

The heart of the matter

Vaughan, who captained England from 2003-2008, including winning the 2005 Ashes, recalled Buttler’s earlier efforts of plundering late runs while finishing off innings rapidly. "Buttler’s done this before for England. I remember in Dubai against Pakistan he just exploded from 50 to 100. He just got the gift, hasn’t he? I don’t there’s a better middle-order batsman in world white-ball cricket", the 43-year-old said.

Incidentally, this was Buttler’s slowest ODI hundred among the five so far, having smashed scores of 129, 121, 116* and 105 previously in merely 77, 74, 52 and 76 balls, respectively.

What's next?

Australia and England clash for the fourth of the five ODIs at Adelaide on January 26 before meeting in the final match at the newly constructed Perth Stadium two days later.

That would precede a T20 tri-series to be played on either side of the Tasman Sea in which New Zealand would be the other participants.

Author's Take

It is not surprising to hear of comments like these where Vaughan has hailed Buttler’s performances better than that of India’s limited-overs specialist Dhoni.

Of late, the Indian veteran has been struggling to find the right flow and maintain the strike rate as per the demands of the modern game – his former teammates VVS Laxman and Ajit Agarkar had even questioned his abilities – whereas Buttler has developed himself into one of the most threatening one-day batsmen.