T20 World Cup 2021: "A captain who does not have form at times doesn't take the right decisions" - Aakash Chopra on England's weak links
Aakash Chopra feels Eoin Morgan's frailties with the bat could prove to be one of England's weak links in tonight's T20 World Cup 2021 encounter against the West Indies.
Although Morgan endured a horror run with the bat in IPL 2021, he did lead the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) into the title decider. The England skipper opted to sit out England's first T20 World Cup warm-up match against India and scored just 10 runs in their next encounter against New Zealand.
Aakash Chopra previewed the England-West Indies encounter in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
The cricketer-turned-commentator feels Eoin Morgan's cluttered mind could be one of the stumbling blocks for England. He reasoned:
"The captain does not have the form. A captain who does not have form at times doesn't take the right decisions - when you will come to bat, you are saving and hiding yourselves, didn't play the warm-up match as well."
Ps Whoever wants to write of @davidwarner31 & @Eoin16 re their lack of form. Remember class is permanent & form is temporary - don’t be surprised if one of these players will be player of the tournament #ICCT20WorldCup2021 ! Who will win followers ?
Morgan has already said he will not refrain from sitting out if his indifferent form comes in the way of England's success. However, he is unlikely to take that call at the start of the tournament.
"England don't have a bowler like Jofra Archer" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra picked England's bowling as their other weak link. He elaborated:
"They [England] don't have a bowler like Jofra [Archer] . So I will be very intrigued to see how their bowling goes because I am seeing their bowling to be their weak link, whether it is David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood or Chris Jordan."
The former India opener feels the England seam-bowling attack lacks variety which can be exploited. Aakash Chopra explained:
"None of them is a gun death bowler. All of them seem alike to me. None of them has a gun yorker, all bowl short balls, they all bowl more length balls. They take wickets with the new ball but get hit a lot with the old ball. That is the general template that has been created. So they will miss Jofra Archer there."
Aakash Chopra picked bowling as their opponents' weakness as well. He said:
"The West Indies bowling is 100% weak. It looks a very okay kind of bowling lineup to me. If they have to bowl second and the ball becomes even slightly wet, they will not be able to defend 180-190 also."
Samuel Badree: “If there's one area of the West Indies team that I'm worried about, it's the spin [bowling] department. It's an area of shortcoming for them." [Jamaica Observer]
West Indies will rely a lot on the experienced Dwayne Bravo for their death bowling. However, they are likely to miss the services of Sunil Narine, who was in excellent form in the UAE leg of IPL 2021.