Eoin Morgan’s England need improvement against India in this week’s one-day international series after the tourists wrapped up the Vitality IT20s with a seven-wicket win in Bristol.
The hosts’ 198 for nine on Sunday was their third-highest Twenty20 international total on home soil.
But on an excellent pitch, and small playing area, it proved inadequate as Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten century eased India to a 2-1 series success after a third-wicket stand of 89 with his captain Virat Kohli.
WINNERS! ?#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/W0HdELUpzw
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 8, 2018
Jason Roy (67) and Jos Buttler appeared to have put England on course to easily top 200 – but after their opening partnership of 94 in under eight overs, momentum was lost, and there was no grand finish either.
A manic conclusion to the innings in fact saw five wickets fall in 15 balls, albeit for 21 runs, as Hardik Pandya finished with a career-best four for 38.
Morgan said: “Those 20 or 30 runs we missed out on, in the back-end of our innings, cost us.
“We did a lot of things right today – particularly that platform set.
England have 3 players more than capable of doing what Jos does at the top of the order, but 0 capable of doing what he does from the middle to the end. That’s why in THIS team, I wouldn’t open with him.
— mark butcher (@markbutcher72) July 8, 2018
“Jason and Jos were brilliant up front, and almost gave us a licence to allow ourselves to think about 220.
“But the execution of our shots didn’t really match up with getting to that total.
“On a good wicket, small ground, we should be better than that.”
The tourists were therefore always favourites in the chase, and completed it with eight balls to spare.
Wohhhooo!!! What a fanatic win #TeamIndia! Proud to be part of such an incredible team & winning this T20 series #ENGvIND! @ImRo45 you beauty! We can never get enough of you knocking those boundaries & What an amazing show by @hardikpandya7 Well done guys! ?? @imVkohli @BCCI pic.twitter.com/5qV57lQdW4
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) July 8, 2018
“India never really got away from us, but we struggled to take wickets,” added Morgan. “They kept up with the rate, and then it was a position in the 16th or 17th over they could take the game away from us – which is disappointing.”
The Irishman does not believe England have to play perfectly to beat India in white-ball cricket – just very, very well.
“I’d say close to,” he said. “I don’t think we have to play a completely perfect game every time (to beat them) – we proved that at Cardiff. But certainly today they had their day.
“India were probably on top of their game today, and we weren’t – and we were just short.”
Asked if the conversation with Root is among the toughest he has had as captain, Morgan said: “Yes. Dropping Joe is not an easy decision.
“Trying to win the game on this particular ground, it actually came down to Ben’s bowling option.
“If we had Joe as a sixth bowler – which we needed today – an extra spinner against India didn’t really match up that well.”
