England assistant coach Paul Collingwood said their struggling cricketers Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan have got the backing of the national side while backing the batsman to return to his top form in the five-match T20I series decider against India on Saturday (March 20).
Malan is the number one batsman in the ICC T20I Rankings for the batsmen, but he has been struggling for his usual fluency in the ongoing T20I series in India, scoring a combined 80 runs at a strike-rate of just 103.89 without crossing the 24-run mark in his four outings on the tour.
The 33-year-old has 935 T20I runs to his named including nine half-centuries and one hundred from 23 games at an average of 49 with a strike-rate of 144, but he couldn’t find his rhythm in India, though former England captain was confident that Malan will find his form soon while reminding his stats.
Collingwood told reporters on Friday: “Dawid hasn't quite found his rhythm on this tour but you've got to remember where he is in the world rankings and that's no fluke. What he's done with an England shirt on in T20 cricket has been pretty much exceptional up until this series.”
The coach further said of Malan, “He'll be the first person to say it hasn't gone quite as well as he'd like in the first four games, but he's got an opportunity again to do something special [on Saturday].
He has been unbelievably consistent, to the point where you know fine well once he gets in he will go on and get a big score. Sometimes it only takes one shot that comes out of the middle of the bat that gets you going again - we have all been there.”
Collingwood further said England will “back their cricketers” by saying “one thing this team has done so well in the past four years, this new era of white-ball cricket, is back their cricketers.”
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He continued, “As a player, you need the security of knowing you're not going to get dropped after a couple of games because we do ask a lot of them. They go out there and are expected to score at strike-rates of up to 140. If you look at his record, Dawid does exactly that for us.”
On Jordan, Collingwood said: “Chris has been phenomenal in terms of death bowling for us. The experience he will gain here on these types of surfaces against a batting line-up that is very powerful will put him in good stead for the future. Of course, we want to win here and now but a lot of decisions we make are for the future, for winning World Cups.”
With the five-match, T20I tied 2-2 and both teams heading into the final on Saturday in Ahmedabad, Collingwood has described the series decider as a “huge game” and “final” for England as they build towards the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 to be held in India later this year.
The assistant coach further explained, “It's a huge game and both teams know it. It's like a final for us and we've got two fantastic sides going head to head. When you're leading into World Cups you need these kinds of experiences to see how players deal with the pressure. This game feels like another great opportunity to get the experience of knockout cricket under our belt.”
He signed off by saying, “Coming away from India with a series win should be a huge incentive; it is one of the toughest places to come in the world. It would be a great confidence booster for all of the players, to play against such a high-quality side in their own backyard and to win the series. There is a lot of excitement around to have the chance to do it.”
(With AFP/Sky Sports Inputs)
