The suspicion that all of us had while watching England play the white-ball games against India, stands confirmed. England did not care. It was a major shock and surprise that England surrendered rather tamely in all the games. They were infact, lucky to win one of the T20 games. Something was not right. That much seemed clear. Ofcourse, England’s white-ball team have come a longway down from the hallowed days of Eoin Morgan. Yet, to see them surrender so meekly in every game, beggars belief. From the Indian standpoint, it did not really matter. Few of them helped themselves with handsome runs and a few of them with wickets. Nevertheless, things for India would have been much better if they had been challenged just before a major tournament.
England must have realised that if not for anyone, they owe everything to their supporters. Ofcourse, in England, anything that is outside of the ODI World Cup and the Ashes is not worthy of their time but there is a small group of supporters for whom every game matters. The English players owe everything to those small group of supporters. Winning and losing is part of the game but the tame manner of their surrender in game after game pokes fun on those supporters.
England plummeted
Apparently, throughout the series, England held only one practice session. This is a professional sport in which a player is expected to improve constantly. Towards that end, he needs to practice regularly to not only keep his form intact but also ensure he has bowled sufficient number of deliveries or batted sufficient number of deliveries to apprise himself of his readiness before a game. Just one practice session throughout the tour is not only making fun of the tour but it may even lead to disastrous consequences.
Their confidence must have hit rock bottom following this series though they know they didn’t take these games seriously. The opponents would have gained enormous confidence seeing the way England have played. This display has certainly ruled them out of being among the favourites for the Champions Trophy.
Ben Duckett spilled the beans
How serious were they was revealed by none other than, Ben Duckett.
The English opener had said “If we lose 3-0 to India, I don’t care as long as we beat them in the final of the Champions Trophy.”
This was an unprofessional comment which deserves the harshest of condemnation. If this was their attitude, they should not have come. Instead, they could have gone directly to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
Pietersen was quite critical of what Duckett said and rightly so.
“Goodness me, it’s pretty poor that Duckett would say that he doesn’t care if England lose today and lose 3-0 to India. Context is important when reading quotes, but those words should NOT have been said! NEVER!” Kevin Pietersen posted on X.
Pietersen was also quite critical of England’s overall attitude.
“I’m sorry, but I am absolutely gobsmacked that England did not have ONE team practice session since losing the 1st ODI and losing the T20 series. How can this be? Seriously, how? I believe Joe Root was the only player to have a net this series, post Nagpur,” he continued.
“No, really. I’m gutted that I’ve to say that you disrespect Indian conditions and India so much. I’m absolutely gutted from an Englishman’s point of view.”
BCCI humiliated
Pietersen is of the view the England disrespected India. Be that as it may, I think that they did not care about the might of the BCCI. They actually poked the BCCI’s ego. They seemed to have announced to the Indian cricket board that they cannot be made to come down all the way from England just to play a series of white-ball games. This is the extent to which they will go to insult the BCCI. In a way, I am happy because someone had the audacity to challenge the might of the BCCI.
The Indian team have just finished 4 months of utter disgrace and humiliation in Test cricket. There was no time to retrospect what went wrong and what could have been done better.
Yet, the BCCI had the audacity to schedule some meaningless games just for to make the public forget the humiliation. BCCI may claim that this series was booked in advance but they would have done so knowing that a reversal in Australia will be quickly forgotten with a series at home.
Wrapping up England did not care
It is a moot point whether England cared or they disrespected India. The point to be discussed is why schedule a meaningless series just after the Australian tour? BCCI may claim that they did to prepare the team for the Champions Trophy. How did they prepare the team with T20 games outweighing ODI games is beyond my imagination. This Indian cricket board is a disgrace who are unable to utilise the mountain of money towards world domination of the sport by both the men and women teams in all formats for a very longtime.
Other blogs about England
https://icricketcritique.com/english-supporters-concerned-about-stokes/
https://icricketcritique.com/england-has-given-up-their-hope/
https://icricketcritique.com/michael-vaughan-about-england/
https://icricketcritique.com/dont-discard-bazball-england/
https://icricketcritique.com/the-series-from-englands-perspective/
https://icricketcritique.com/englands-series-against-india/
https://icricketcritique.com/mathew-motts-sacking/
https://icricketcritique.com/mccullums-role-and-lyon
https://icricketcritique.com/what-has-gotten-into-vaughan/
