India vs England | Jos Buttler admits that sending Moeen Ali at No. 3 was a tactical decision by England

In the first innings, Moeen came out to bat at number seven position in the order and scored 40 runs. Ali had scored a double century for his county club Worcestershire against Yorkshire, batting at number three position. This might have made the skipper Joe Root take a decision to promote him higher in the order to number three. However, that meant that Root batted at number four, a position where he averages 13 runs more than when he bats at three, and Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes and Buttler all moved down one position in the order from the first innings to positions they are arguably better suited. However, Moeen Ali failed to make the best out of this opportunity and managed to score only nine runs. 

Jos Buttler feels that promoting Ali to number three was just a tactical decision in order to bring out the best of his form.

"It was a pure tactical decision after Moeen has been in such fantastic form in the last few weeks. He bats at number three for Worcester and we felt he was playing so well that it was a nice move for him to bat at three. He was told last evening,” Buttler explained after the day's play.

Buttler didn't have much to say whether the current positions in the batting order shall remain the same or not. However, he didn't hesitate to make a point that they shall keep the order as per whatever suits the betterment of the team in that particular moment. 

“I'm not sure moving forward what will happen but tactically for today, it felt like the right decision. I thought he batted fantastically well today. People will debate a lot where his best position is but it could be the matter of a difference of one ball so I don't think for a world-class player like Joe it affects him too much,” Buttler added. 

England had already made changes to their batting order for this match, dropping Ollie Pope and replacing him with Moeen and moving Bairstow to four, Stokes to five and Buttler to six. There have been a number of other changes this season too - Dawid Malan started the season at number four - which proves that England are not yet certain of their best top seven or the order in which they should bat. Jos Buttler believes that the positions might keep changing as per the requirements of the team and forms of the players in that particular moment. He said that the team stability is more important, no matter what order is followed. 

“In time, stability would be important but at the moment, trying to work out best combinations and find the way. The best teams over time, you guys could pretty much turn up every week and write that side out so that's of course the goal of what every team is trying to get to. Stability is a key pillar in a lot of successful teams,” Buttler concluded. 

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