England vs India 2018: Five things England should do ahead of the second T20I
It was expected to be a high-octane clash when two in-form teams come up against each other. It didn’t turn out to be an exact humdinger, but India’s three-month journey of the UK couldn’t have started off better as Kohli’s men thumped England by 8 wickets with 10 balls to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.
England openers started off very well after Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to chase on a wicket that looked like a batting beauty. Both the in-form openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler liked the ball coming on to the bat and made use of the powerplay overs.
As expected Kohli introduced spin early in the form of Yuzvendra Chahal but he too couldn’t get the bite of the surface to trouble the openers. Just when Morgan’s men looked like putting on a huge total, left arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav’s spell wrecked the England middle order.
Jos Buttler’s 46-ball 69 and David Willey’s 15-ball 29 cameo, in the end, meant England finished with 159-8 which in the end proved too little for this strong Indian batting line up.
England will hope that this was just an off-day and by now will be fully aware that India present a different challenge than most sides at the moment. Here are five things that they need to change ahead of the second T20I.
#5 Team Selection
England can boast of their batting depth but the downside of it is they fall short of bowlers. With all-rounder Stokes out with injury, England are left with only five bowling options and that includes the off-spin of Moeen Ali, who can never threaten Indian batting in limited overs cricket especially in this form.
They can look to get in another bowler in place of Alex Hales/Joe Root and they must look to play Bairstow up the order and not at No 5. England should make the maximum use of Bairstow’s batting form he showed against Australia in the recent series. He could be the ideal No. 3 after the early fireworks provided by Jason Roy and Jos Buttler.