Pune, March 24: It isn’t yielding the desired results but England skipper Eoin Morgan finds nothing wrong with the visitors’ approach in the ongoing ODI series against India even though they are in danger of losing the no.1 spot to Virat Kohli’s men.
In a battle between the world’s top two sides, world champions England were 135 for no loss inside 15 overs in their chase of 318 on Tuesday, before collapsing to 251 all out, failing to build the partnerships that could have taken them home without the big strokes.
“I think the method in which we went about our business today is the right message in which we play and it has worked over the last five years for us,” Morgan said in the post-match press conference.
“So that’s really encouraging obviously on the back of our bowling performance on our two openers, the way that they played, and really controlled the game is extremely positive,” he added.
Now they face a must-win situation in the second ODI on Friday, while a clean-sweep by India would mean that the Morgan-led world champions would lose the No.1 spot.
“We don’t fiercely guard that at all…We actually don’t guard it at all. It’s not something that we talk about in the change room,” Morgan said.
“Everything is built towards planning, being competitive at a World Cup and trying to improve our skills over that period of time.”
Asked about losing the top ranking that they have held for much of the three years, an unfazed Morgan said, “It is not about cementing the no.1 spot.”
“It is about building a group of players that will hopefully bring something of quality in a World Cup. If you talk about motivation and determination, it goes hand-in-hand.”
Jonny Bairstow top-scored for England with a 94, while his opening partner Jason Roy made 46 before they imploded against a new-look Indian bowling to be bundled out in 42.1 overs.
“I really think we’re dangerous to play against, particularly the way that we went about our business for the majority of today’s game,” he said.
“If we played really well and were on top form we would have chased that total down in no time. But that wasn’t meant to be…India are a top side to beat, one of the best sides in the world, majority of the time.”
“I can’t fault the guys today. I thought they were brilliant, they did exactly what was expected on the wicket,” said the World Cup winning captain.
“So, again, areas of improvement, we’ll be looking at that and trying to build partnerships, but I don’t envisage huge changes,” Morgan concluded. (PTI)
