England’s revamp hit with India’s roadblock

Brendon McCullum’s announcement as the white ball coach for the English cricket team has signaled a new beginning for the side. The apparent impetus that could have generated was met with problems afront as India dolled out a lesson to the visitors in the first T20i played at the Eden Gardens at Kolkata.

It was again a case of cricketing misjudgment from England as they chose a side with four seamers and only one spinner on a sticky, dewy track generally found at the Eden Gardens. India brought in three spinners and they did spin a web around the batters, especially Varun Chakravarthy.

England’s batting did not get going at all, with Arshdeep Singh’s fiery opening spell set the tone for the home side to pound the visitors down. Jos Butler played a captain’s innings of 68 off 44 deliveries and was one of the three batters that scored double digit scores. Chakravarthy, playing at his home ground proved to be a handful for the Three Lions and scalped 3 important wickets in quick succession. There seemed to be no one to hold the innings together and actually play the game with awareness, after assessing the dire situation.

 

Suryakumar Yadav’s youthful side bowled relatively well but there job was made a tenfold easier with the brain fade traversing through the English side. India’s fielding was a highlight as well. Every fielder was tidy in the field and were wiry when called upon to take their catches. A tidy job on the night but one had to question why this happens to England more often than not. India’s experimenting with the T20 side post the 2024 World Cup has reaped rewards up till now and they only look to be going from strength to strength.

 

India’s batting seemed to be looking to get the game done in a hurry as Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma came out swinging at everything. With the pace of Archer and Wood in the bank, they did not have to doubt their approach even once as the ball reached the boundary time and time again. Samson departed for 26 but Sharma’s blistering 79 off 34 was a lesson for the visitors on how to bat on that particular pitch. The innings had eight sixes and at one point he was toying with the field, nonchalantly. Surya’s innings was the only blot on the scoresheet as he failed to open his account.

 

In the post-mortem, England will need to look into the balance of their side and how the new coaching setup will approach games. The conditions will not necessarily similar but there will be tricky pitches to come in this series. It will be foolish to come to premature conclusions as this still is only the first game since McCullum’s takeover. There is still time to recuperate and revise their approach in these two formats of the game. India’s athletic, agile and springy new side will prove to be the perfect opponents to test England at this juncture in their white ball journey.

Broadcast Schedule

India v England White ball series
IND v ENG 2nd ODI, Cuttack
9th February
Start time: 8:00 am GMT
IND v ENG 3rd ODI, Ahmedebad
12th February
Start time: 8:00 am GMT