The defending champions England faced their fourth consecutive defeat in this World Cup.
Amid England's challenging campaign at the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Liam Livingstone has quashed whispers of rift within the dressing team. The defending champions faced their fourth consecutive defeat, a bitter pill to swallow in the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2023.
Despite winning the toss and restricting India to a modest 229/9, England faltered, getting bowled out just 129 as Mohammed Shami (4/22) and Jasprit Bumrah (3/32) led the hosts to their sixth straight win in the tournament.
After the Lucknow shocker, England languishes at the bottom of the CWC 2023 points table with just one win in six matches so far.
Well, speculation arose when former England captain Eoin Morgan hinted at conflict within the English camp, but Livingstone firmly refuted any such claims.
Morgan told Sky Sports: “I’ve never come across a sports team that has underperformed like this England team, given the level of expectation that is on their shoulders. There’s something within the team that is definitely unsettled.
The method, which they’re trying to use and given the substantial nature in which they’ve lost the games, it is definitely called into question, the morale within the changing room and the confidence. It must be at its lowest that it’s been for a considerable period of time now.”
Later, Liam Livingstone said at the post-match presser in Lucknow: “Everybody in the dressing room has got immense respect for Morgs (Morgan) but hand on heart I can tell you there is nothing going on in the dressing room. Everybody is working as hard to try and turn this around.”
Speaking about the conditions at the Ekana Stadium, the all-rounder said: “This is 50 over cricket, IPL is T20 cricket. It is a very different game. We’re not just playing good enough cricket at the moment. It was a difficult pitch there was a bit of spin also. The ball came on nicely in the evening. I did not think it was a horrendous surface.”
England will next face Australia in Ahmedabad on November 4, 2023.
(With IANS/PTI Inputs)