Former India player Aakash Chopra slammed England’s batting in the first ODI against the Indian team in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6. While adding that the visitors have three lions printed on their jerseys, he said their performance was as timid as a cat as well. However, India bundled England out for 248 after Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bat first as well. The hosts reached the target with four wickets and 68 deliveries to spare to start the three-match series with a win as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “You opted to bat first after winning the toss and you are unable to score runs. Jos Buttler, of course, scored runs. Jacob Bethell scored runs, which is good news for RCB, but (Harry) Brook is still unable to see the ball. Harshit Rana concedes 26 runs in an over but he comes back and bowls very strongly. However, England’s batting is a problem. They do make up for it in bowling, although I felt they were playing with a pacer short. The team is ordinary. They have three lions on their jerseys but they are meowing like a cat.”

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In the same video, Aakash Chopra also said that England have struggled with the bat in their last three tours to India across all formats as well.

“You will be surprised if I tell you their situation. On their last three tours, which includes Tests, ODIs and T20Is, they have been bowled out 19 times in 25 innings. Good batting surfaces. They are not playing on any turning pitches. They are playing on good batting surfaces in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. In the remaining six innings, they have lost nine wickets. How are you batting? If you are unable to bat the entire quota of overs on these pitches, then you have a problem. In ODIs and T20Is, you last 50 overs or 20 overs, but you don’t,” Aakash Chopra concluded.