CUTTACK: Axar Patel was down on his knee laughing at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Thursday. He couldn’t believe what had happened and neither did England captain Jos Buttler. Having bowled what was possibly his worst delivery of the match — a half-tracker — all Axar would have expected was Buttler to smash it.

And so did Buttler as he went back in the crease to pull it. But the ball kept low, Buttler tried to adjust but it was so low that he got into an awkward position as the ball took the top edge and fell right into the hands of Hardik Pandya at short-fine leg. Just when it seemed like Buttler was building a partnership with Jacob Bethell, the England captain fell in a way that summed up the series so far for them.

Build momentum, take on Indian bowlers, and lose the plot against the run of play. It happened earlier in the powerplay when a horrendous mix-up led to the run out of Phil Salt. With Ben Duckett trying to keep going, he too fell shortly after. The result and pent-up pressure from a confident Harshit Rana meant Harry Brook, who is struggling for form, got out in the same over.

It is not just that. Even later in the innings, when England still had eight overs to go with just three wickets in hand, Bethell, who had fought hard for a fifty, went after Ravindra Jadeja only to be trapped on the pads. Trying to double down on their intent, which did not necessarily work in the T20Is, England continued to lose wickets in clusters and as a result conceded control and momentum to India. Only if they had they managed to add another 40-odd runs, it could have changed the course of the match in the second innings.

Buttler admitted as much after the loss on Thursday. “We were probably another 40 or 50 runs (short) on that total — with the way the wicket was turning at the end, we would have been in a good position to try to win the game,” Buttler said. “We really had the momentum at that point and absolutely once we’ve got it, we need to continue to keep putting the opposition under pressure for longer. I think that’s been the story for us so far — how can we keep that momentum going for a bit longer when we’ve got it? And when we’ve got it, hold on to it,” he added.