Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
India put England in a spin
ENGLAND started their summer trial by spin as India’s IPL kings dished out a T2O hiding at an Old Trafford full of support.
And they didn’t even need Virat Kohli to do the damage with the bat as KL Rahul grabbed 101 not out in the win by eight wickets with ten balls to spare.
It was spinner Kuldeep Yadav who started the rout with a sensational return of 5-24 from his four overs as England’s phobia against spin reared its ugly head again.
“They played well and it wasn’t our day today,” said skipper Eoin Morgan. “It was a game of fine margins and we need to be better.”
On a dry, sun baked pitch that was taking turn, England’s batsmen would have had a better chance of picking the winning lottery numbers than which way the ball was turning.
The left-arm wrist spinner left England’s batsmen utterly clueless as he bamboozled them one by one, making two of the very best, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root look like novices.
They both faced one ball and they were both stumped by MS Dhoni’s fast hands.
“He’s a very good bowler,” added Morgan.
“And is going to be a very big threat for us in this series and we need to be better about the way we go about our business.”
If it wasn’t for Jos Buttler’s 69 from 46 balls, this game would have been an even greater embarrassment for the home side.
Buttler’s first scoring shot was a scoop over the keeper’s head for four and he continued in that same swashbuckling style until he was out.
He added 50 in double quick time with Jason Roy, but once their partnership was broken he was forced to watch from the other end as his team-mates spectacularly failed to deal with India’s spin threat.
Where England’s batsmen spluttered, the Indians took Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali apart as if it were the easiest thing in the world.