England captain Eoin Morgan refused to blame his teammates for the 66-run defeat against India but admitted his team made mistakes and paid the price in the first ODI of the three-match series at Maharashtra Cricket Stadium in Pune on Tuesday (March 23).
On Tuesday in the ODI series opener, England were 135/0 at one stage on the back of a 135-run partnership for the opening wicket between Jonny Bairstow (94 off 66 balls) and Jason Roy (46 off 35 runs), but Indian bowlers made a stunning comeback to bundle out the tourists for 251 inside 43 overs.
After a 66-run defeat in the first ODI, Morgan said lack of partnerships in the middle didn’t help out England against “one of the best sides in the world” Team India, saying it is a shame his team could not build on the bowling unit's effort to restrict the hosts to just 317 on Tuesday.
However, the England skipper defended the tourists’ attacking style in the first ODI against India, saying that he would have had a problem if the batsmen got out while playing defensive shots in Pune.
Morgan said during a virtual press conference: “I can't fault our group. India bowled well and we made mistakes and could not have a partnership going in the middle. For the majority of the game, we played really well.
It is a shame we could not build on the bowling unit's effort to restrict India to just 317 and our two fantastic openers, how they performed at the front, that is what happened.”
He added, “The wicket was outstanding, so when obviously Jonny and Jason established a partnership in the way they did when other players tried to play the same way, India bowled well and held their length.
I think that's evident in how the guys got out, all our guys were playing attacking shots. I think if we are all getting out playing defensive shots then it would be the issue.”
On being asked whether England missed Joe Root in the ODI series, Morgan said: “Joe is world-class, particularly at number three spot for us. His role is such an important one for us. Him missing out leaves a massive hole, but he needs rest and he needs to spend time with his family.”
Meanwhile, Sam Billings sprained his collar bone joint while fielding, as well as, Morgan also split the webbing between his right thumb and index finger while fielding in the first ODI.
Giving an update on the same, the skipper said: “We are going to wait 48 hours and see how my injury is. I split my webbing. Obviously, Sam Billings had a hit on his collar bone, we will see and we will give as much time it is needed to hopefully be available for Friday. I think there are two different instances. When you have a split webbing, fielding is a concern.”
Morgan continued, “We are going to give a majority of our players a chance to play this format. It has been a vehicle to grow our squad, so there will be opportunities for guys coming in.
I haven't spoken with Sam regarding injury hampering his batting. In my case, it is never going to be 100 percent. It is not like that I cannot hold the bat.”
He signed off by saying about England's number one ranking in ODI format, “It is not about cementing the number one spot. It is about building a group of players that will hopefully bring something of quality in a World Cup.
If you talk about motivation and determination, it goes hand in hand. Sometimes people learn how much quality you have to produce in an international match to win.”
(With ANI Inputs)
