Nagpur, Feb 5 (IANS) England will continue to play an aggressive brand of cricket in the upcoming ODI series against India, even though they failed in proper execution of their plans in the preceding T20I series that resulted in an embarrassing 1-4 defeat.
England captain Jos Buttler said they have discussed the all-out attack style of play favoured by head coach Brendon McCullum and have found it to their liking and therefore will continue to follow it in the ODI series against India and beyond.
“We want to play in exactly the same way. We want to find ways to put pressure on the opposition with the bat. And we believe that’s the best way for us to win games and get the best out of the players in our dressing room. So we’ll double down on that,” said Buttler on the eve of the first ODI against India.
The England captain said their series defeat to India in T20Is was because they did not execute their plans properly.
“I think whatever plan you come up with, try and execute it well. I think we played well in phases in the T20s, you know, never quite long enough to run with it and run away with games and end up getting the results,” he said.
Buttler added, “It is really important that we stay on track and stay on course with the way we want to play and try and execute that to the best viability in this case.”
“Like I said, when you want to be aggressive, you want to be conservative, you want to be measured, you still got to go out there and execute it and play it well,” said Buttler.
He gave the example of the all-out aggressive approach of Australia batter Travis Head in the World Cup final against India in Ahmedabad. Head blasted a 120-ball 137 in that match, hitting 14 fours and one six to help Australia beat India by six wickets with 42 balls remaining.
“If I look back at that World Cup, you know, the two teams in the final were playing a really positive and aggressive brand of cricket. But then Travis (Head) took that final away with the bat. So you see it can be successful,” he added.
Buttler also gave credit to captain Rohit Sharma for shaping India’s aggressive approach in recent times.
“Obviously, Rohit takes a lot of credit for the way he’s come out and played himself as a captain and pushed India more towards that style of cricket.
“So, absolutely we want to be exactly the same. We believe that’s the way that will give us the best chance of getting positive results,” he concluded.
–IANS
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