Morgan draws confidence from Kolkata win
KANPUR: England captain Eoin Morgan has termed confidence as the key factor in T20 cricket. “Confidence is the big word in T20 cricket. At the moment the guys are feeling lot more confident than they were after game two (second ODI). They’re doing a lot of hard work but didn’t get much reward,” Morgan said.
He, however, said the win in the last one-dayer in Kolkata was enough to build England’s confidence. “Having a win under our belt, we’re looking forward to a three-match T20I series. It’s a great place to play T20 cricket in general so everybody is looking forward to it.”
Morgan finds T20I format quite identical to the 50-over game. “I find the two versions almost identical to each other. The similarity of risk level and skill level in both forms is pretty evident. Around the 2015 World Cup, you might have had three or four changes going into the other format. You might have had specialist T20 players coming in but we only really have one or two now.”
Joe Root is fit for the T20I series but Morgan ruled out David Willey for the first match. Willey injured his left shoulder during the final ODI. “Joe has recovered really well and is fit for this game. David flew in yesterday, missed practice in the morning and he won’t be fit for selection. Nothing serious showed up on the scan, which is a huge positive because initially it looked quite painful.”
Expecting a good show from pacer Tymal Mills against Kohli and Co on Thursday, Morgan said Mills’ presence in the side was a huge positive. “He (Mills) has had a fantastic winter on two fronts, the levels of fitness he’s shown despite his injury-prone past has been great and allowed him to play a lot of T20 cricket.
He’s starting to specialise in that which is great given where he was two years ago. Being able to bowl and to play consistently at the moment is a huge positive. And to be able to bowl that fast, he is even better for us.”
Morgan said the series will help the side prepare for the Champions Trophy.