Nasser Hussain says England face a “very important few months” for their white-ball game ahead of the second ODI against India on Sunday with the side needing to work out the tempo of their batting in the 50-over format.
Brendon McCullum’s England head to Cuttack hoping for an improved performance in the second of the three-match ODI series after a batting slump led to a four-wicket defeat against the hosts in Nagpur.
The series serves as a warm-up to the ICC Champions Trophy, which starts on February 19 live on Sky Sports Cricket and sees England drawn in the same group as Afghanistan, Australia and South Africa in the eight-team, 50-over tournament.
Thursday’s convincing Nagpur defeat came on the heels of England losing 4-1 in the T20 series that opened the India tour.
Speaking on the latest edition of the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Hussain said that while India boast formidable strength in depth, it had also been evident for “quite some time” that England’s white-ball game was “way off where it was” under Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss, the captain-coach combination that led the side to its 2019 World Cup triumph.
“It’s followed similar paths, hasn’t it?” said Hussain in conversation with fellow ex-England captain Michael Atherton on the podcast as they dissected the six matches played in India so far.
“Most of the games, even the T20s, have been periods where they’ve been in the game and then a clumsy mistake like that [around Phil Salt’s run-out in the first ODI]. Then spin comes on, Ravindra Jadeja bowls beautifully.
“The T20s they lost and they lost a lot of those games for spin as well.
“So India, obviously white ball in that final in the World Cup in Ahmedabad, they won the T20 World Cup, so they’re a formidable white-ball side.
“And also the depth to Indian cricket. Abhishek Sharma in those T20s – wow, what a player. Shubman Gill comes back in. Virat Kohli doesn’t play. Whoever they pick, they are a wonderful side.
England’s Saqib Mahmood, third right, celebrates with team-mates after the dismissal of India’s captain Rohit Sharma during the first ODI
“But England white-ball cricket for quite some time now has been way off where it was under Morgan and Bayliss.
“So I do think it’s a very important few months ahead.”
What do England now have to do to improve in second ODI?
Captain Jos Buttler made clear ahead of the first ODI that England needed to “double down” on their aggressive approach with the bat in the second part of the tour despite the defeats in the T20 series.
Buttler then said after Thursday’s subsequent defeat that the side “need to play better for longer, we need to execute our plans better”.
And amid focus on England’s ability to cope with the India bowlers’ spin, Hussain argued: “You wouldn’t say they’ve been getting out to big spin. It’s not like day four of a Test match in Mumbai or something. It has been through not picking spin.
“I know Harry Brook has really struggled, hasn’t he? So I think it’s the picking of spin and that aggressive nature really.
“This England side, whenever they lose, the thing that’s always asked – are they going too aggressive? Now they’ve got Root in there just to play that anchor role. He didn’t quite bat long enough [in the first ODI]. But I think it’s that aggressive nature.
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Joe Root spoke to Mark Butcher about whether he feels he’s forced himself back into contention for England’s T20 side, saying he’s got to prove himself and is ‘just going to try play the best cricket’ he can
“Eoin used to say that ’50 overs isn’t a long time, just go hard for every delivery and see where you get to’. So maybe that’s McCullum’s point, we’ve got to take a bit of pain to work out the tempo.
“And we’ve both said, they don’t play that much 50-over cricket. They haven’t played that much since the last World Cup and they don’t play domestically 50-over cricket.
“So it is working out how long that batting innings is and how hard to go and when not to go quite so hard.”
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