ICC World Cup 2019 | India just had to go all out to try and win the game, states Daniel Vettori
Daniel Vettori revealed he was not a big fan of how Indian batsmen MS Dhoni and Kedhar Jadhav handled things against England saying that they lacked the desire to secure the victory. He also acknowledged the brilliant strategies implemented by Eoin Morgan and co. that helped them defend their total.
Saturday saw an under pressure English team triumph over India in what was the latterâs first defeat of the tournament. Eoin Morgan did not hesitate even for a second before opting to bat on winning the toss and his team showed exactly why as they put up a huge target of 338 runs for the Men in Blue to chase. Rohit Sharma scored a brilliant century while the skipper chipped in with a wonderful 66 and it looked like the game would go right down to the wire in a close run chase. However, things turned out quite differently as the hosts own by a comfortable 31 runs.Â
"I thought the game planning was great. I think the pitch allowed them to play that way,â Daniel Vettori said to ESPNcricinfo.
Once Hardik Pandya got out after a nice cameo, Kedhar Jadhav and MS Dhoni had the responsibility of taking the team home, requiring 71 off the last five overs. However, they never looked really got going, managing to score only 39 runs with 20 off those coming off singles. Dhoni ended up on 42 off 31 while Jadhavâs final score read 12 runs off 13 balls for which both of them received a lot of flak from the fans and critics alike. Â
âI also thought that Dhoni and Jadhav didn't have the intent. I would have expected to see them clearing the front leg and trying to hit sixes every ball. But there was still a lot of noodling it for one. They just had to go all out to try and win the game. It didn't matter if they lost from there because it felt like they were going to lose anyway," Vettori added.
However, one cannot take away much from England. They had specific plans set up for each batsmen and the bowlers executed them perfectly. Not only did it earn them wickets at crucial stages but also allowed them to contain the two batsmen who have the reputation of being explosive towards the back end of innings.
âI think it was the nature of the bowling and the fields they set as well. They brought up everyone behind the wicket and then they allowed India to try and attack them straight down the ground - and they took pace off, they bowled wide, they bowled the occasional yorker and they mixed it up with the slower-ball bounces as well,â Vettori signed off. Â
