England’s assistant coach, Paul Collingwood was of the opinion that England will be the team to beat in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Collingwood, who had captained England to a T20 World Cup triumph in 2010, said their preparations for the tournament have got better with their Indian tour as the World WIll be taking a few months later in the same country.
Talking to British media washed of the T20I series-decider against India, Paul Collingwood said, “Going into this World Cup I think we will be feared by a lot of teams because of our white-ball form for the past four years. We’ve got a lot of match-winners from one to 11, who can win games from their own bat. Totally different teams from 2010 to now, but I don’t think we could be in a better place.”
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He further added, “The team in 2010 was a team that came together right at the last moment, and we took a few risks, gambles on selection. We knew what kind of cricket we wanted to play but it hadn’t been drilled into us over a long period of time, like this team has. I think this team is better prepared.”
Collingwood said the success mantra of their white-ball teams lies in playing an aggressive brand of cricket.
Elaborating the same, Paul Collingwood said, “I never feel you win World Cups, big tournaments by being conservative. You’ve got to be ahead of the game. This team has done that over the past four years, that drilled into being aggressive. You’ve got to have a lot of bravery to do it in the big games. Tomorrow’s another example.”
He further explained, “Hopefully, we can go out there and play our usual aggressive cricket and of course adapt to the conditions. That’s how they want to play and that’s how you put teams under pressure whether you’re playing the first game or in the final. That is our mantra.”
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Asked about the importance of the series-decider, the assistant coach said this kind of pressure situation would put them in perfect place ahead of the World Cup. Collingwood hoped the pitch, which was used for the second T20I, would offer some bounce. The soft signal sparked controversy during the fourth T20I as Indian skipper, Virat Kohli completely discredited the concept of conclusive proofs required to overturn a soft signal and asked why can’t there be a “I-don’t-know” call for the umpires.
Collingwood explained, “To be honest I think he’s got a point on boundary catches. It’s hard enough for an umpire to see what’s going on from 20 yards away, and then having to look 60-70 metres away to a boundary catch.”
