Roy swept his first ball over midwicket for six, but another wild hoick took a bottom edge on to the stumps to complete Roy’s fourth dismissal to spin in four games in India.
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The Worcestershire all-rounder, 29, collected the prized wicket of Indian skipper Virat Kohli with his first delivery.
It was the third occasion when Kohli opened for India in T20Is. I had a chat with Jos about bringing Liam back on or go on with Adil, I sort of decided that Liam was the best option given those circumstances. “I can play anywhere the management thinks can lend more balance to the line-up”. England are expected to retain Sam Billings at the top of the order, with the familiar power-packed middle order below and some potentially interesting changes in the bowling attack.
“If Rohit was in the side, there’d be no question and he’d be opening with Rahul”. I had no urge to open. “It would be unfair on him”.
In contrast to their efforts in the one-day series, England’s win in Kanpur yesterday was built on a fine performance with the ball. He fell for 8, 5 and 11 in the ODIs and was dismissed for eight on Thursday. Morgan surprised the opposition by not using Rashid at all in the game while Moeen Ali who wasn’t probably even the first choice finished with the figures of 21/2 from his 4 overs and went to win the ‘Man of the match award’. All teams want their openers to fire.
“Opening is the kind of slot where you have to back your players for a while”. In the build-up to this one-day series, he struck the ball as good as anybody. “To reinforce the fact that the things we’re doing work, and get results, is huge for confidence in the side”. He was picked as a replacement along with Parvez Rasool, with Yuzvendra Chahal already in the squad.
Jammu and Kashmir cricketer Parvez Rasool on Thursday became first cricketer to made his T20I debut against England as India chose to include him in playing XI. Chasing 219 to win, the Englishmen always maintained a good run-rate throughout their innings that kept them in the chase but the target altogether looked beyond the reach of mortal abilities. You could tell that they are playing more freely, which was evident in their body language. Kohli was polite about the level of talent in the England team but warned limited availability might boring interest from IPL franchises, an issue that really affects only Morgan.
While England have nearly the same squad they had for the ODIs, they are a far more stronger unit when it comes to the shortest format of the game. Not thinking of the outcome too much.
“England played better cricket than us today, and they are deserving winners”.
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Rashid is a complex player who requires careful handling, but Morgan explained his absence as a purely tactical decision based on pitch conditions.
