Jos Buttler takes autograph of Team India’s wheelchair cricketer ahead of IND vs ENG 2025 1st T20I [Watch]

England skipper Jos Buttler took the autograph of India's wheelchair cricketer Dharamveer Pal in a heartwarming moment ahead of the first T20i against India in Kolkata on January 22. The two teams will play each other in a five-match T20I series, followed by three ODIs.

In a viral video, Buttler was seen taking time to approach Dharamveer Pal, who is a wheelchair-bound and specially-abled cricketer. Dharamveer is a regular at the stadiums during India matches.

The bat Buttler carried to take his autograph was seemingly signed by other Indian players. He had a brief chat with Dharamveer in a wonderful gesture.

Here is a video of the endearing moment between the two:

As for the upcoming series, Buttler and his men have a daunting task to try and upstage Team India on their home conditions.

The Men in Blue have been in red-hot T20I form, winning the 2024 T20 World Cup without losing a single game, followed by four consecutive bilateral T20I series victories. India also upstaged England in the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final in a role reversal from the 2022 edition.

Meanwhile, England are coming off an impressive 3-1 T20I series win against the West Indies and the India series will be their first under the now-white ball head coach Brendon McCullum.

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"We're really blessed actually in terms of the bowlers that we have here" - Jos Buttler

Jos Buttler expressed confidence in his side to produce the goods in the upcoming India T20I series, pointing to their incredible batting depth.

India and England have played each other in 24 T20Is with the former holding a slim 13-11 edge. However, recent meetings have been one-way traffic with India winning the last four bilateral T20I series against England.

Talking about the matchup against India on the eve of the series opener, Buttler said (quoted by NDTV):

"We're really blessed actually in terms of the bowlers that we have here, on this tour. They're all very, very capable bats. I think if you look at guys like Gus Atkinson with a Test hundred, and then Brydon Carse is an excellent hitter of the ball, and then Adil Rashid down at No. 11 [No. 10 on the team sheet for the first T20I] who's got multiple first-class hundreds. So, yeah, I think we're very fortunate in that sense that a lot of our bowlers are very, very capable batters."

He added:

"That gives a lot of depth to the XI and confidence to the guys at the top that there's plenty [of batting] to come. So we can be really aggressive and, you know, not worry too much about our wicket, because we've got guys behind us who can do exactly the same job."

The two teams played a thrilling series during England's last T20I series in India, with the hosts eventually eking out a 3-2 win.