Ahead of the match against England, Australia head coach Justin Langer has heaped praise on Jos Buttler and said that the England wicket-keeper is in many ways, the new Mahendra Singh Dhoni of world cricket.

Wicket-keeper batsman Buttler has excelled for England with his aggressive style of batting and Langer believes he can succeed former India skipper Dhoni, who is considered as one of the best finishers in international cricket.

“Jos is an unbelievable player. I love watching him bat. He is the new Dhoni of world cricket,” said Langer.

“I hope he gets a duck in this (Tuesday’s) game obviously, but I saw him at Somerset and he is an unbelievable athlete and an incredible finisher,” the Australian coach added on the eve of their World Cup match against England. Buttler has scored 3728 runs at an average of 41.42 and a strike-rate of 120.25 in 137 matches.

Australia have won five matches in the premier tournament and sits on the second position on the points table.

Finch also admitted that they are ‘improving nicely’ as they have been playing good cricket with both bat and ball.

“You can go down the route of picking a T20-based side and hope for the best for 50 overs but in a World Cup, I’m not sure that was going to be the right way to go about it,” he said.

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“I think we’ve got the balance well and truly right, we’re playing some really good cricket with bat and ball, we’re fielding really well ... Overall we’re improving nicely,” he added.

Ahead of the premier tournament, every cricket enthusiast was expecting that in this edition of the World Cup, teams racking up big totals will be a regular thing.

(With agency inputs)

First Published: Jun 25, 2019 11:43 IST