Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra criticized England’s batting performance in the first ODI against India in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6. While pointing out that the visitors sported three lions on their jerseys, he likened their performance to the timidity of a cat.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, England were bowled out for 248. India chased down the target with ease, securing a 4-wicket victory with 68 balls to spare, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India opener noted that England’s batting was nowhere near as aggressive as the lions on their shirts.
“England chose to bat first after winning the toss, yet they couldn’t score big runs. Jos Buttler scored valuable runs and Jacob Bethell scored runs, which is a positive for RCB, but (Harry) Brook still seems to be struggling,” he remarked (14:15).
“Harshit Rana gave away 26 runs in an over, but bounced back strongly. Despite that, England’s batting remains a concern. Their bowling has some strength, although they were one pacer short. The team looks ordinary. They may have lions on their jerseys, but they’re meowing like cats,” Chopra added.
“You’d be shocked to hear this, but in their last three tours across all formats Tests, ODIs, and T20Is they’ve been bowled out 19 times in 25 innings. And these were good batting surfaces. They weren’t facing any turning pitches,” Chopra said.
“They’ve played on excellent batting pitches in all three formats Tests, ODIs, and T20Is. Out of the remaining six innings, they lost nine wickets. How are they batting? If you can’t even bat through the full set of overs on these pitches, there’s a serious issue. In ODIs and T20Is, you should be able to last 50 or 20 overs, but they’re not doing that,” Chopra pointed out.
Jos Buttler and his team were dismissed three times during the previous five-match T20I series against India. In the other two matches, they lost nine wickets, including during their 26-run victory in the third T20I in Rajkot.