Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan said that England approached the T20I series against India from the wrong angle. Notably, they lost the fifth T20I by 150 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, February 2 to lose the series 1-4 as well. Contrary to India’s spin-heavy approach, England overly dependent on their pace attack as well. The likes of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse, and Gus Atkinson led the charge with only one spin option in Adil Rashid as well.

“You look at the score India put up, and it was down to the formation that England picked throughout the whole of this series. I said at the start that I can’t see how pace-on is going to win them a series in India, and they ended up losing 4-1,” Vaughan said on Cricbuzz. “If you’re bowling pace, you have got to be hitting the stumps at times. A lot of England bowling has been peak pace-on, chest-high. But the wickets are not quick enough, and they bounce not steep enough to threaten. Yes, they have had Sanju Samson out with the short ball, but ultimately the ball has been flying around.”
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Meanwhile, Sanju Samson and skipper Suryakumar Yadav were the biggest threats for England ahead of the series. But, they failed to contribute much and added only 79 runs in total throughout the five matches as well. Instead, the left-handed duo of Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Verma made headlines.

“I think England at the start of the series would have through that if we keep Sanju Samson quiet, and Suryakumar Yadav quiet, we will have a good chance of winning this series. Well, they did that, and they have been hammered because India have got a powerhouse of young dynamic left handers. The Indian players are just deflecting the ball to all corners of the park. Abhishek Sharma is getting balls at 150 kmph, he is just getting his bat to it and it is flying everywhere into the stands. That’s not how to win ODI or T20I series in India, you have got to be skillful, take the pace off,” Michael Vaughan concluded.