IND vs ENG | Nobody in this T20I setup is nailed on for the World T20, attests Eoin Morgan
Morgan spoke about the series loss against India
|BCCI
Eoin Morgan, post the 3-2 defeat against India, has warned that nobody in the Three Lions setup has their spot nailed on and insisted that there needs to be flexibility in the constant improvement. However, he credited Adil Rashid and Mark Wood for adapting to their new roles with the ball.
While Eoin Morgan, ahead of the series, stated that this series was always going to be a World T20 dress rehearsal for the visitors, the results didn't quite go their way as they succumbed to a 3-2 defeat after leading the series 2-1. In particular, this series has presented more problems than expected for the visitors, who had pretty much the same team in all the games, barring one, where Mark Wood was injured.Ā
Multiple problems such as death over bowling, middle-order batting and a powerful finisher in the death overs have been a missing part of Englandās arsenal. England skipper Eoin Morgan reckoned that nobody in this T20I setup is nailed on and there is a constant need for flexibility in their improvement over the next few months.Ā
"Nobody is nailed on," Morgan said in the press conference on Saturday.Ā
"If any player, including myself, looks that far ahead and thinks right my position is nailed down, they are mistaken. We want to both improve and continue to get better as the rest of the world progresses as well. T20 as a game progresses faster than any other of the formats. We need to be quite flexible in how we want to improve. We can't be rigid. Ultimately, we need to get better," he added.
However, Morgan noted a few things that went well for the visitors - including the new role for Adil Rashid, bowling the powerplays and for Mark Wood, being an enforcer in the middle-overs. While Rashid picked up four wickets, Wood picked up five wickets, largely playing a huge role in this English setup.Ā
"That's trying different things. Adil Rashid has to be hugely commended for taking a new role, creating opportunities and limiting the amount of runs scored off him as well, gives us an extra option moving forward. Mark Wood has bowled with a huge amount of pace but also accuracy as well. That adds another string to our bow. Growing in that department because it's one of the hardest to bowl, particularly in India," he added.
In particular, Morgan pointed out the middle-order batsmen hadn't fired as well as he would have expected them to. He also added that coming to a run-chase, the middle-order wasn't quite sharp, including in twin losses where they had the ascendancy.Ā
"When you look back in the game, in a similar instance to the last game, our middle-order probably haven't fired as well as we would have liked. At the back end of the games we have lost, our middle-order weren't as sharp as they normally are. One of our strengths is normally how quickly guys get in and adapt to surfaces. It didn't necessarily happen.ā
However, Morgan credited the role played by Ben Stokes, with the all-rounder being expected to do miracles every time he steps on the pitch. He added that Stokes role is one of the toughest to fulfil in this setup.Ā
"We have played against teams for a long time and they might have the best playing XI in the world on paper but if they haven't played a lot together, they don't know the roles they play. The role Ben has played for us in the middle order, when he has had opportunities to play, he's done a really exceptional job. It's an extremely difficult role to fulfil. It's a role he has embraced and in the last game, he played really, really well."
