We wanted to make India work hard, says Buttler

England batsman Jos Buttler has said that they didn't want to make any thing easy for India and by taking the third Test into day five, they have made the visitors work hard for the victory.

Buttler scored 103 and put on 169 runs with Ben Stokes but Jasprit Bumrah took 5-85 to reduce England to 311-9 in pursuit of the 521-run target.

"It was very important for us to turn up today and show a lot of character and fight and not give it to India easily make them work hard. We did that really well throughout the day - even the two guys there at the end, making sure we do come back tomorrow.

"It showed that, no matter what it is, we're not going to roll over," Buttler said.

England were reduced to 62 for four at one stage but not only did Buttler and Stokes held the crease until lunch, they batted out the next session without losing any wickets.

While continuing to frustrate India, Buttler said they felt they could have batted until stumps as he scored his maiden Test hundred.

"Having batted for a long time and feeling pretty good in the middle. We knew the (second) new ball would be a big phase in the game conditions for batting were really good before that. It's disappointing I couldn't make it last a bit longer.

"It has been a long time coming, and a few months ago it was a million miles away. It's a huge moment for me. I don't think I can under-estimate that feeling. Personally I'm delighted, a little bit lost for words. Definitely to prove you can do it, I think that's a huge part of the feeling of it," he said.

The batsman added, "I was never sure if I'd ever play Test cricket again. All those thoughts go through your head while you're out there as well when you start to get close. I never thought this would happen, so I had to try and make sure it did. Definitely there were times when I thought that race was run."
"It proves to me I can do it, and I'm hungry to go and do it again. I've definitely remembered how hard Test cricket is, having come back into it. It's really tough - it tests you in all sorts of ways. This is definitely the proudest moment in an England shirt."