Jofra Archer reveals England's successful bowling strategy in 1st T20I
Jofra Archer has revealed England's successful bowling strategy to restrict Team India to a below par 124/7 in the first T20I.
After Eoin Morgan won the toss and asked India to bat first on a wicket that had a bit of grass on it, Virat Kohli and co. failed to get going. A charged up English bowling attack led by the lightning-quick Jofra Archer (4-1-23-3) made life difficult for the hosts.
In reply, Jason Roy's quickfire 49 off 32 balls helped England to hunt down the target easily with eight wickets and 27 balls to spare.
During the post-match press conference, Jofra Archer said it was a conscious effort to bowl back of a length as the two-paced nature of the pitch made it rather difficult for the Indian batsmen to play their shots.
"The wicket was a bit slow so it was going to be hard to hit the length balls obviously. If you bowl it fuller on these kinds of pitches, then obviously it becomes a little easier to hit. Luckily, it worked for us and we didn't have to change our plans," Archer said.
England's planning and execution was rewarded in the first over itself when Jofra Archer forced KL Rahul to drag an attempted drive onto his stumps. Thereafter, India kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Shikhar Dhawan (4 off 12 balls) and Virat Kohli (0 off 5 balls) also departed within the first six overs.
Rishabh Pant (21 off 23 balls) and Hardik Pandya (19 off 21 balls) flattered to deceive as well. Shreyas Iyer's well-composed knock of 67 runs off 43 balls ultimately helped India to cross the 120-run mark.
Jofra Archer added that England planned on bowling straight to every Indian batsman as the visitors tried not to concede too many boundaries down the ground.
"Not just in the powerplay (against KL Rahul), the plans were pretty much the same to every batsmen. We tried to bowl as straight as possible. Even some of the boundaries they hit, there were a few to third man to be honest. As a bowler, you're happy to go for runs there as long as you don't get hit where you don't want to get hit. If you get hit behind the wicket, that's absolutely fine. But getting hit down the ground is definitely not the best," Archer added.
"Not looking too far ahead" - Jofra Archer
With four games still remaining in the series, Jofra Archer explained that he is not looking too far ahead. The England pacer wants to take one match at a time as he is aware that the nature of the wicket could change at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
"All the same, looking forward to everything really, take everyday at a time. We may not get the same wicket again, you know. The next game, it could be a totally different wicket. And then that's a challenge in itself. So I'm just taking every game at a time and trying not to look too far ahead," Jofra Archer concluded.
The second India-England T20I will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.