English limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has claimed that he is not a huge fan of bilateral series and prefers a tri-series more than the two-team series.
Talking about cricket series, “I am not a huge fan of bilateral series. Having a game like this is crucial for us. I do prefer a tri-series. The context. Every game brings something different with significance on it.”
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Currently, the three-match ODI series between the hosts England and visitors India is 1-1 level while the last game will be played on Tuesday at Leeds. While many people are seeing this ODI series as the practice series for the two teams prior to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup that will be played in England from 30 May to 14 July next year, Morgan doesn’t agree with that thought.
He said, “No not at all. The World Cup format has changed with the Round Robin, so you have a lot of games you have to turn up and do well on the day. This will be one of them. Given circumstances, conditions — Kuldeep Yadav might bowl really well — we just need to be in the frame of mind to play well.”
Indian left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav is bowling very well in this tour as he is threatening the English batsmen continuously. However, Morgan feels the English batsmen have now started to pick Yadav.
The 31-year-old said, “We started better against him. And the more we face him the easier he will be to pick. But you still have to play him well. I thought Joe (Root) was quite significant in that — his rotation of strike, his calm head. I thought we did our basics right. It was much better.”
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In the last game at Lord’s, English captain decided to bat first after winning the toss and England was able to put a big total of 322/7 on the board. However, many experts were believing earlier that England should take the bowl first after their previous Lord’s ODI performance against South Africa (May 29, 2017) where they were bowled out for just 153 runs in the first innings after a horrific start of 20/6 in 5 overs.
However, Morgan said there were differences between the pitches. Talking about that, Morgan said, “There was about 4mm of grass on top whereas the game against South Africa there was about 8mm – which is quite significant. The difference between 20 for six was that it seamed for about half an hour or so, but not much more.”
In the last Lord’s game, former Indian World-Cup-winning captain and wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni was booed by the Indian fans for his slow knock of 37 off 59 balls during chasing a big target of 323 runs.
Morgan commented on that, “It is something that happens in India a lot, and when you are playing in front of a predominantly Indian crowd, you will get reactions similar to that. So when you hit a boundary there will be absolute silence or when you take a wicket — and the ground half empties when you are winning.
