Nasser Hussain says England face a “very important few months” for his or her white-ball sport and have to work out the tempo of their batting within the 50-over format.
Brendon McCullum’s England head to Cuttack hoping for an improved efficiency within the second of the three-match ODI collection after a batting stoop led to a four-wicket defeat towards the hosts in Nagpur.
The collection serves as a warm-up to the ICC Champions Trophy, which begins on February 19 stay on Sky Sports activities Cricket and sees England drawn in the identical group as Afghanistan, Australia and South Africa within the eight-team, 50-over match.
Thursday’s convincing Nagpur defeat got here on the heels of England dropping 4-1 within the T20 collection that opened the India tour.
Talking on the newest version of the Sky Sports activities Cricket Podcast, Hussain stated that whereas India boast formidable power in depth, it had additionally been evident for “quite some time” that England’s white-ball sport was “way off where it was” below Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss, the captain-coach mixture that led the facet to its 2019 World Cup triumph.
“It’s followed similar paths, hasn’t it?” stated Hussain in dialog with fellow ex-England captain Michael Atherton on the podcast as they dissected the six matches performed in India to this point.
“A lot of the video games, even the T20s, have been durations the place they have been within the sport after which a careless mistake like that [around Phil Salt’s run-out in the first ODI]. Then spin comes on, Ravindra Jadeja bowls superbly.
“The T20s they lost and they lost a lot of those games for spin as well.
“So India, clearly white ball in that ultimate within the World Cup in Ahmedabad, they received the T20 World Cup, so they are a formidable white-ball facet.
“And also the depth to Indian cricket. Abhishek Sharma in those T20s – wow, what a player. Shubman Gill comes back in. Virat Kohli doesn’t play. Whoever they pick, they are a wonderful side.
“But England white-ball cricket for quite some time now has been way off where it was under Morgan and Bayliss.
“So I do assume it is a vital few months forward.”
What do England now have to do to improve in second ODI?
Captain Jos Buttler made clear ahead of the first ODI that England needed to “double down” on their aggressive strategy with the bat within the second a part of the tour regardless of the defeats within the T20 collection.
Buttler then stated after Thursday’s subsequent defeat that the facet “have to play higher for longer, we have to execute our plans higher”.
And amid focus on England’s ability to cope with the India bowlers’ spin, Hussain argued: “You would not say they have been getting out to huge spin. It is not like day 4 of a Check match in Mumbai or one thing. It has been by way of not selecting spin.
“I know Harry Brook has really struggled, hasn’t he? So I think it’s the picking of spin and that aggressive nature really.
“This England facet, each time they lose, the factor that is all the time requested – are they going too aggressive? Now they have Root in there simply to play that anchor function. He did not fairly bat lengthy sufficient [in the first ODI]. However I feel it is that aggressive nature.
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
Joe Root spoke to Mark Butcher about whether or not he feels he is pressured himself again into rivalry for England’s T20 facet, saying he is bought to show himself and is ‘simply going to attempt play the very best cricket’ he can
“Eoin used to say that ’50 overs isn’t a long time, just go hard for every delivery and see where you get to’. So maybe that’s McCullum’s point, we’ve got to take a bit of pain to work out the tempo.
“And we have each stated, they do not play that a lot 50-over cricket. They have not performed that a lot because the final World Cup and so they do not play domestically 50-over cricket.
“So it is working out how long that batting innings is and how hard to go and when not to go quite so hard.”
England in India – outcomes and fixtures 🏏
All occasions UK and Eire ⏰
Watch each match from the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy stay on Sky Sports activities between February 19 and March 9. Get Sky Sports activities or stream with no contract on NOW.
