Ahmedabad: Ben Duckett, a player on England’s cricket team, said it doesn’t matter if they lose the ODI series to India 3-0, as long as they win the Champions Trophy. After losing the second match in Cuttack, he told reporters, “No one will care about this series if we win that competition.” This sounds good, but it’s easier said than done.
England has started well in their matches but then lost their momentum. They struggled against Indian bowler Ravindra Jadeja and seemed uninspired in their bowling. Indian batsmen have been scoring freely against England’s fast bowlers, and Shreyas Iyer has been ready with a plan against short balls. Besides Adil Rashid, who bowls spin well, England hasn’t challenged India much.
England’s current performance is very different from how they played under former captain Eoin Morgan. While Morgan’s team was focused on scoring a lot of runs, they could also win matches that required fewer runs. Duckett mentioned that head coach Brendon McCullum supports his players, saying, “Baz (McCullum) won’t criticize me for trying my shots.” He justified getting out while playing a big shot against Jadeja.
Sticking to what they practice is good advice, but can the whole team keep playing aggressively all the time? Maybe that’s what McCullum’s approach, called “Bazball,” is about. However, excitement about this term has faded recently. There were talks of playing a different way after losing a Test series to India last year. Since joining the white-ball team, McCullum has only pushed for fast, aggressive play.
England’s captain, Jos Buttler, noticed similar aggressive play in Indian player Rohit Sharma, who scored a lot in Cuttack. Buttler believes that playing aggressively is the right way to win games. But he didn’t mention that India has different players; Rohit took risks while others like Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli played in a more controlled way according to the game situation.
Currently, only Duckett and Joe Root in the England ODI team have averages over 40 runs. This shows that the team seems to care more about how fast they score instead of their overall runs. Often, in close matches with strong bowlers, the game isn’t just about scoring quickly like in T20 cricket.
Duckett said, “If we lose 3-0 to India, I don’t care as long as we beat them in the final of the Champions Trophy.” But not many people think England can make it to that final based on their current performance.
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