KOHLI AND THE KISH OF DEATH
Indian skipper and rising young star Kishan show England how to do the business on tough tracks
EOIN MORGAN reckons England may have to learn the hard way when it comes to success on Indian surfaces before the T20 World Cup.
Morgan conceded that India were far superior in yesterday’s seven-wicket win in the second T20 to make the series 1-1, thanks to the brilliance of Virat Kohli and young starlet Ishan Kishan on debut.
Both players scored fifties as the home side chased down England’s 164-6 to win at a canter with 13 balls to spare.
They made the pitch look far more comfortable to bat on than England did after they struggled to time the ball with any real fluency on a sluggish surface.
And Morgan insists it’s being able to set match-winning totals on slow pitches that remains England’s biggest weakness that they must improve with the World Cup on the horizon.
“We don’t get the opportunity to play a lot on slow wickets where pace off is challenging for our batters and bowlers,” said England white ball skipper Morgan. “It is one that exposes our weaknesses and absolutely shows why this series was so important ahead of the World Cup. We want to learn as much as we can and I’m glad we played on this wicket but I’m disappointed with the way we played.
“Regardless of how we do in the series we want to learn as much as we can and get better on these surfaces ahead of the World Cup. If we have to learn the hard way, we’re going through that process.”
England will have felt like they were in the game at the halfway stage with Jason Roy’s 46 continuing his bright start to the series, even if others couldn’t quite cash in as four scores in the 20s shows.
Morgan admitted he would have liked to see his batsmen target bowlers that suit their style more clinically in the way that Kishan did as soon as Adil Rashid came on to bowl at him.
At 22-1 after four overs England were right in the game, but three and a half overs later, with two chances dropped and with Chris Jordan, Tom Curran, Ben Stokes and Rashid all targeted, the game had slipped away.
No one is as ruthless in a runchase as Kohli and having been let off when he was on 10 with a tough chance down the legside to Jos Buttler, he made England pay before revealing how AB de Villiers is still finding a way to hurt England.
“I had to shift the focus back to the basics,” said Kohli. “I’ve always taken pride in doing the job for the team, so I was more happy about that than scoring 70-odd.
“I kept my eye on the ball. I had a special chat with AB de Villiers before this game and he told me just to watch the ball. So I did!”
Ahmedabad, India won by 7 wkts ENGLAND INNINGS
J Roy c Kumar b Sundar ................... 46 J Buttler lbw b Kumar ........................... 0 D Malan lbw b Chahal .......................... 24 J Bairstow c Yadav b Sundar .......... 20 E Morgan c Pant b Thakur ................. 28 B Stokes c Pandya b Thakur ............. 24 S Curran not out ...................................... 6 C Jordan not out ..................................... 0 Extras b1 lb10 w5 ................................ 16 Total 6 wkts (20 overs) ................ 164 Fall: 1-1, 2-64, 3-91, 4-119, 5-142, 6-160
Bowling: Kumar 4-0-28-1;
Sundar 4-0-29-2; Thakur 4-0-29-2; Pandya 4-0-33-0; Chahal 4-0-34-1
KL Rahul c Buttler b S Curran ............ 0 Kishan lbw b Rashid ............................ 56 V Kohli not out ........................................ 73 R Pant c Bairstow b Jordan .............. 26 S Iyer not out ............................................ 8 Extras lb1 w1 nb1 .................................. 3 Total 3 wkts (17.5 overs) .............. 166 Fall: 1-0 2-94 3-130
Bowling: S Curran 4-1-22-1; Archer 4-0-24-0; Jordan 2.5-0-38-1; T Curran 2-0-26-0; Stokes 1-0-17-0; Rashid 4-0-38-1