‘Explosive’ tactic could backfire on Morgan’s men
EOIN MORGAN has backed England to continue playing “explosive” one-day cricket in India. However, home captain Virat Kohli believes that commitment to attack could be their downfall.
England lost the Test leg 4-0 before Christmas, but their limited-overs unit has been a different proposition since a selection overhaul following the 2015 World Cup, winning five of the seven series since then.
But Kohli used his first pre-match press conference as India’s one-day captain to gently suggest they may have accelerated their tactics too much to have sustainable success.
“They seem to be quite fearless, which is always a good thing, but at the same time I’ve always felt that to be a consistent performer in the ODI format, you need to understand strike rotation as well,” he counselled.
“You can’t just go in with one sort of momentum. That is something we will look to counter, see if they lose a few early wickets, what are the plans they come up with?
“I’ve seen a lot of times, teams start off really well, in the first 10 they really dominate, and then once you lose two or three wickets in the middle phase, unless you know how to rotate strike, it gets very, very difficult.
“So we already have plans in place in terms of how we counter what they’re going to come up with.”
England won one and lost one of their warm-up matches against India A in Mumbai, with Sam Billings and Jonny Bairstow the respective top scorers.
Both men were keeping the No. 3 slot open for Joe Root, who stayed behind for the birth of his first child but is back to take his place in the order.
Billings and Bairstow will drop out as a result, with Liam Plunkett due to beat Jake Ball to the final seamer’s slot provided he passes fit after calf trouble.
The tourists will start the three-match series as underdogs given India’s record on home soil. But Morgan led England to the final of the World Twenty20 in these conditions less than a year ago.
“The challenge of winning in India is huge but it’s not impossible,” he said.
“I think we draw confidence from knowing we have played in these conditions before.
“Coming into the World T20 tournament, this group of players had never played cricket in India.
“You have to be responsive and stay in the moment as long as you can, be reactive to circumstances. I think it worked for us then and, hopefully, it works throughout the series.”