When Jos Buttler climbed into the last ball of the semi-final and swatted it for six he let out a roar that summed up just how much the win meant to him.
For this team now, for the team he was a part of in 2015, for the team that won in 2019 and for plenty more inbetween, this was a win for the ages built upon the bat of the finest white-ball cricketer England has ever produced.
Buttler is not always as demonstrative on the field, but he has a tough streak running through him and he can mix it with the more animated players in the game. He has had flashpoints against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa, and when it was put to him that it was a surprise to see him react that way, his reply was simply “maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
What we do know is that Buttler is a remarkable talent with the bat in his hand and a white-ball coming down towards him. Whether it is opening up the off side with shots over or through extra cover, flicks of the wrists that send the ball scurrying through midwicket, or even the scoops and ramps that fly past the wicket-keeper, he dominates this format of the game like few others.
And that was why India were broken within six overs of England’s chase. They knew. They had seen Buttler do it so many times before for the Mumbai Indians or the Rajasthan Royals, they knew they couldn’t stop him.
The Indian players on the field went flat and quiet. The Indian supporters in the stands went flat and quiet. And when Hardik Pandya tried to gee them up to make some noise to motivate them on the field, Buttler quickly shut it down with another thumping slog sweep for four.
Usually, Virat Kohli is a bundle of relentless energy in the field, scampering around generally annoying the opposition and inspiring his team, not this time. His eyes were almost glazed over as he stroked his beard in wonderment at the quality on show from Buttler and indeed Alex Hales.
It was quite something to see some of the finest players in the world offer a collective shrug when it came to finding answers to the skill of Buttler. Kohli is one of the all time greats himself, and even he was left in awe by the cricket Buttler was producing having gained so much experience at the IPL.
Perhaps he has also learned a thing or two from Kohli about how to celebrate a remarkable performance on the field as he let out his exaltation and then embraced Hales after finishing the game.
The Indian players took their turns to shake his hand and pay homage to the man who had made them a distant second best. And just like defeat at the Adelaide Oval was a turning point for England in 2015, maybe the same will be the case for India this time round.
