India & England: Variety in Approach To ODI Cricket
Since their first-round exit in the World Cup 2015, things have changed in English Cricket though for the good. England drastically changed their approach to limited overs cricket and it has paid off. Now they stand tall on MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI team Rankings, leading the pack from the front, closely followed by India.
Going back a few years, after the Champions Trophy 2013 which was a surprise package for the English men, it turned out that their approach was still lacking in the limited overs format. Results and stats proved this point to a further extent with the team managing just seven wins in 25 ODIs over the period of two years, 2014–2015.
England must thank the brutality check they had in 2015 World Cup (Managed only 2 wins in the 6 games played, placed 5th in the pool only above AFG and SCO), for their progress thereafter has been absolutely magnificent. They needed to hit rock-bottom to realize how far the world has left them behind and that the only way from there is upward and forward. Their rejuvenation was led by an enigmatic leader in Eoin Morgan.
Morgan picked a bunch of attacking batsman to bat around him and deepen the batting line up, gave them the confidence and the backing such individuals need. Their approach was simple — ATTACK, ATTACK, and ATTACK! From June 2015, they’ve made nine scores of 350 or more. Before this, they had reached 350 only twice.
In their new fearless avatar, they also chased better than ever before, with four of their top five successful chases coming since the last World Cup. Trent Bridge, Nottingham has been their fortress and rightly so, breaking the record for the highest team score in ODI cricket, scoring 444/3 against Pakistan in 2016, thereafter managing to break their own record by scoring 481/6 against Australia in 2018.
On the other hand, India, a force to reckon with in ODI cricket has a rather contrasting approach of building their innings right from the start and taking the matches deep till the final overs. When India wins in white ball cricket, irrespective of whom and where they are playing, they just reiterate their status as a world-class force and not just confirm it.
It’s not that India hasn’t seen its own transition and more aptly, evolution. There was a period of about 20 months, from the end of their 2015 excelling-till-the-semi-final World Cup campaign to losing the Champions Trophy final in 2017, India stagnated a touch.
India stuck to the traditional approach with the top 3 being solid and at least one of them continuing to bat till the 50th over.
From 1st April 2016 to 30th Jan 2016, India played 16 ODIs and won just 7 of them. They lost a series against Bangladesh for the first time, before losing at home to South Africa 3–2 and got hammered away by Australia 4–1. There was a genuine need to revitalize and that is when the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya came along but the real change took place much later.
The world had realized, but not India, that the only way to curb the rampaging modern day batsman in the middle overs of an ODI is to remove them and the surest way towards this aim is wrist-spin. India learned it the very harsh way in a final of a world event, Champions Trophy 2017, despite looking the better team on paper, got outclassed in all three departments.
With the inclusion of two world-class wrist spinners in Chahal and Kuldeep, India became a complete unit than ever before. Now that this Indian team under Virat Kohli, who believes in the pace department as much as he does on the spinners, has built a great overall performing team. The pacers are renowned to bowl with the new ball as well as contain the batsmen at the death. Spinners do their bit in containing the batsmen in the middle, while the Indian batsmen are capable of adapting to the situations quickly and react as per the need of the hour. Experience with classy young talents is always a blessing in disguise and this Indian team is packed with all of it.
It is not that India doesn’t have its own share of fallacies. While England’s approach can often come across as one dimensional when batting and they are in genuine need of resources on the bowling front, India could do with a sound sixth bowling option and solid no.4.
India with a traditional approach and a well-oiled team, on the other hand, the English men with their all-out attack mindset and heavily relying on their batting, one can differentiate their approaches easily. Looks like a complete unit will do the trick this ICC World Cup, ain’t it? We shall look forward to an enthralling encounter between these two Super Powers in Cricket, until then Good Bye.
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