When India took the field against England after posting 171 on the board in the second semifinal of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, there was an air of tension at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
England were a bit tentative during the first two overs but their skipper Jos Buttler changed gears swiftly and collected 13 runs off the third over.
Buttler's onslaught against Arshdeep Singh brought back memories of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal where he alongside Alex Hales had demolished the Indian bowling attack to run away with the game.
However, Axar Patel was in no mood to let the England captain repeat history as he came into attack and sent him packing with the very first ball of his spell.
Axar went wide at the bowling crease to dart one into Buttler's stumps and the latter ended up top-edging an attempted switch-hit to the wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
It was a big wicket for the Men in Blue as all of India knew what Buttler was capable of and could have shown India the exit.
While Axar claimed nine poles for India at the marquee tournament in the USA and the Caribbean, Buttler's wicket in the semifinal remains his personal favourite.
"My personal favourite was the first wicket against England in the semifinal, getting Jos Buttler out," Axar revealed in an interview with Cricbuzz.
"The second was clean bowling Jonny Bairstow, and the third was dismissing Marcus Stoinis against Australia. The Buttler wicket stands out for me because of what happened in the 2022 World Cup. I was there when they chased our score without losing a wicket. That memory was on my mind, and I was determined to do well for the team, no matter what.
"I bowled my first over in the PowerPlay, taking out Buttler, and then I clean bowled Bairstow with an arm ball in my second over of PowerPlay. He failed to read my delivery and missed it," he added.
