Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra was critical of England's batting performance in the first ODI in Nagpur on Thursday. The visitors lost the first ODI after a below-par batting performance on a good batting wicket.
England won the toss and opted to bat first. They got a good start but were not able to capitalise the middle-overs. Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell scored fifties but they came in a losing cause.
The other England batters were dismissed by some rather ordinary deliveries from the Indian bowlers. It was a collapse of sorts from the England batters after a good start.
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading...
England's Batting Is A Problem - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra in his Youtube channel, said that England's batting performance was not as dominant as the three lions on their jerseys.
"You opted to bat first after winning the toss and you are unable to score runs. Jos Buttler, of course, scored runs. Jacob Bethell scored runs, which is good news for RCB, but (Harry) Brook is still unable to see the ball. "Harshit Rana concedes 26 runs in an over but he comes back and bowls very strongly. However, England's batting is a problem. They do make up for it in bowling, although I felt they were playing with a pacer short. The team is ordinary. They have three lions on their jerseys but they are meowing like a cat," Chopra said.
Phil Salt (43 off 26) and Ben Duckett (32 off 29) gave England a solid start but India found a window of opportunity and pounced on their opposition. The run-out was the opening that India got and they never allowed England to get back into the game.
Akash Chopra recalled some stats from England's previous trips to India across three formats. He emphasised how their batters failed to play spin and were bowled out 19 times in 25 innings across formats.
"You will be surprised if I tell you their situation. On their last three tours, which includes Tests, ODIs and T20Is, they have been bowled out 19 times in 25 innings. Good batting surfaces. They are not playing on any turning pitches," Chopra added.
There is not much time for England to do some rethinking and bounce back on Sunday for the second ODI which will be played in Cuttack. England were bowled out thrice in the five-match T20I series against India recently.
