[ad_1]
On the decisive side, England was hit by a superb performance from India.
In Twenty20 cricket, the pressure of chasing a target like 225 means that a pair of terrains can destabilize even the strongest foundations, and that’s what happened to tourists in Ahmedabad.
The fifth and final game was played on the best course we’ve seen since Test 1, and we saw the difference it makes when hitters can rely on the surface. It was a very good game of cricket.
Virat Kohli’s play to open for India worked well, allowing the shooting players to attack around him. So it was still there to add power at the end.
Rohit Sharma hit wonderfully and Suryakumar Yadav is another one of these confident new Indian players benefiting from the Indian Premier League.
Subsequently, Bhuvneshwar Kumar excelled with the ball. Returning figures of 2-15 when races pile up elsewhere is hardly credible.
For England, Chris Jordan achieved a moment of magic on the field. He once again proved that he is an outstanding athlete with his sprint and one-handed grip to eliminate Suryakumar. By tossing the ball to Jason Roy to complete the reception, which I’m not sure he had to do, it’s a sham that he doesn’t get credit on the score card.
Dawid Malan played a major inning at a time when he was under pressure, but when he and Jos Buttler fell as part of a four-wicket, 12-race collapse, England fell into terminal decline.
Still, England have things to take away from their 3-2 defeat, with the World Cup in India now just seven months away.
After all the fuss during the player break test series, it was okay for Eoin Morgan to always pick his best XI, rather than mix it up by giving players one game here and one there.
The fact that England were on full blast makes cutting and shifting during the Test series defeat a bit easier to swallow. It felt like they were working on a plan.
Even though it was expensive in the final game, Mark Wood had a really good drive, showing that pace counts even in a place like India.
The decision to have Adil Rashid open the bowling alley was interesting and worked more often than not. It can be tough for leg fans to grasp the shiny new ball, but Rashid proved he can give England a different option.
Then Malan came well. Even though he returned the scores that led to him being rated the world’s number one T20 hitter, there were still questions at the end of the series.
It must be emphasized, however, that those questions did not come from Morgan.
When I spoke to him before the series about the possibility of Alex Hales coming back for any hitter who had a low scoring streak, he was eager to back all the players on his team. He did the same at the end of the series.
Hales would be an option to enter, just like Joe Root, remember the good tournament he had when England reached the World Cup final in 2016, but it seems that Morgan has identified this group of players and, barring injury, these be the ones who want to become double world champions.
That is not to say that there are no questions to answer.
For me, the most important is how to get the best out of Ben Stokes, who may not be enjoying hitting at number six, due to the relatively limited opportunity he has to make an impact from so low in the batting order.
Stokes looks ideal to open in T20, as he has done with the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.
But, on this England team, who would you replace? Buttler and Jason Roy have already squeezed Jonny Bairstow to number four. Malan, at number three, is ranked the best in the world. That leaves Morgan and Stokes next.
Clearly, Stokes is a great player and can still make an impact on the ball, on the field and just by his presence.
However, that doesn’t stop the lingering feeling that England could get more out of it with the bat.
It’s a similar story with Sam Curran. None other than Mahendra Singh Dhoni has Curran lead the batting and bowling for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
However, due to the incredible talent of the England team, Curran hit nine and pitched just one in the decider of the series.
Curran will compete with Jordan and Moeen Ali for the last two places in the England XI.
All of them can contribute to the bat, especially Moeen. Jordan is one of the best outfielders in the world, experienced and skilled at shooting to the death. Curran is a left-arm option and Moeen could be a second course.
Conditions will dictate it, but if Moeen hasn’t landed a single game in this series, it suggests that England will only consider two spinners if it’s an actual pitch.
When we look ahead to the World Cup in the fall, it’s hard not to conclude that we’ve probably just seen the top two teams in the tournament.
Australia will be strong and the West Indies will unite well. Most parties will think they have a chance, that’s the beauty of the T20, but England and India will be battle-hardened and better for this experience.
India has shown that their group of exciting players has a lot of depth. England has been there: they won the last World Cup over 50 and were runners-up in the last T20 World Cup.
They are the two best teams in the world and the ones that others will distrust in October and November.
