India should fear this England side: Michael Vaughan

[sage]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2022/11/08/india-should-fear-england-side/

 

Many England supporters will be saying about the T20 World Cup semi-final: “We don’t want to play India.” But, actually, it should be India worried about playing England.

That is how good England have become. They have proved over a period of time they are a better white-ball team than India, so confidence should not be a problem.

In white-ball cricket, they rarely let themselves down. The only reason we say India are favourites is because of the partisan crowd expected in Adelaide on Thursday. But if it was an empty stadium, you would say England were favourites because they have better white-ball pedigree.

Also, you have to remember the crowd can add pressure on the India side. It will be 95 per cent India support and England generally love those atmospheres. They have played brilliantly in white-ball cricket over a number of years because they have learnt how to play pressure and silence a crowd.

If England can do that, India will feel the expectation rising and could make mistakes. How do you do that? Well, India help due to their approach. I have watched India play a lot of T20 cricket and they do not bat aggressively enough early on, so the pressure builds. They have the ability to be ultra- aggressive, but they like to settle in and explode towards the back end. If they make 180 or 190, it is because Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav or Dinesh Karthik has fired in the final few overs.

India are a T20 side who play the format in an old-school way. They start cautiously and England have to really work on setting the tone early by hitting a heavy length straightaway; bowling straight and not giving away any freebies. You can build a few dots against India and give yourself early confidence.

When bowling to Virat Kohli, you can keep him quiet at the start. He is world-class but, with a tight field, you can restrict him in his first few balls because he just looks to settle in rather than go after boundaries. Most of the India side play that way, so if Jos Buttler is smart he can put the squeeze on them. Sometimes you can put another fielder in the circle and challenge them to hit over the top because they do not always want to do that. You can “steal” one or two balls early on in a batsman’s innings and over the course of 20 overs that might save 15-20 crucial runs.

I have been very impressed with England’s bowling over the past 10 T20 games. They have great variations, angles and changes of pace. They have the smartness of Chris Woakes, swing and competitiveness of Ben Stokes, pace of Mark Wood, three spinners with Moeen Ali coming on to the left-handers, Liam Livingstone bowling both off and leg-spin, and Adil Rashid has been bowling well without the rewards. I have not watched him and thought he was out of form.

 

The area India will try to target is spin, so Wood, with his pace, is so important. Sam Curran has become one of the best in the world in this format. His ability to read the batsman’s intentions by watching them until the last second and then bowling the hardest ball to hit at that moment is remarkable. If the batsman gives himself space to hit it over the off side, Sam generally throws it wide outside off stump. If he sees a batsman coming at him, he either goes slower-ball bouncer or ball into the surface. He has become Buttler’s “go-to” bowler.

The only fear I have is India batting first and making a big score, because they are such a good bowling side and England do not look very convincing when chasing. If the openers Alex Hales and Buttler fail then I worry because the engine room in the middle order has not fired. The Sri Lankan chase was the perfect chance for Harry Brook and Livingstone to knock it around and make 25-30 not out and see England home. But they failed and ended up relying on the best England player I have seen in terms of dealing with pressure in Stokes. He has not been in great form but as soon as you put him under pressure, and he knows he has to be there until the end, he almost seems to forget everything that has gone before and plays the situation.

The short square boundaries will need defending at Adelaide. But they are bigger than you think when you first go out there, so early in a player’s innings making them hit square of the wicket can work because players take it on. They might go for it too soon and while you want to defend the square boundary most of the night, it can be an attacking option when the batsman starts out.

India have underperformed in Twenty20 cricket when you think of the Indian Premier League and the advantages it brings. They won the first T20 World Cup in 2007 but have achieved pretty much nothing since. With all that talent and experience, they have massively underachieved in white-ball cricket.

This is big for Buttler. He has led the team well. He is in a World Cup semi-final. He is two wins away from lifting a trophy, which is massive for a new captain.

And. realistically for England to win, he has to perform. He is a huge factor in this England T20 team. He is the one India fear.

 

[express bowling]

And the mind games begin ....

[singhvivek141]

3 minutes ago, express bowling said:

And the mind games begin ....

& imagine if KL and DK listen to this comment. 

[Number]

Hopefully used pitch will help us. Thank you ICC. 

[Vilander]

Don’t India just beat them in a series lulz

[Nikhil_cric]

****-stirrer should stick to making racist jibes like everybody at Yorkshire County. Amazing how many people giving him any attention at all. 

[Need4Speed]

He has spoken..Indian win confirmed..

[coffee_rules]

He is England’s Shoaib Akhtar the motormouth 

[figo6762]

I think Vaughan and Hayden are getting their punch lines from same script written .. if Pakistani and Brits make it to the final .. one will scream no one can face us , the other one will scream you should fear us .. I think they should cancel the final have a punch dialogue competition 

[Vickydev]

16 minutes ago, figo6762 said:

I think Vaughan and Hayden are getting their punch lines from same script written .. if Pakistani and Brits make it to the final .. one will scream no one can face us , the other one will scream you should fear us .. I think they should cancel the final have a punch dialogue competition 

Our Ravi bhai will still claim how Cricket was the ultimate winner. With no cricket played. Genius

[Rightarmfast]

Agree with one comment. India plays the new format the old fashioned way. Spot on. 

Other than that, its just mind games. 

[figo6762]

30 minutes ago, Rightarmfast said:

Agree with one comment. India plays the new format the old fashioned way. Spot on. 

Other than that, it’s just mind games. 

Correction old format in a new way 

[Mariyam]

They couldn't beat us when they had the umpires in their pockets on that dusty pitch in Champaner and we had Bhuvan.

 

Now we have Bhuvi and the BCCICC. No ways they are beating us. *evil laugh*

[Stan AF]

3 hours ago, singhvivek141 said:

& imagine if KL and DK listen to this comment. 

[Laaloo]

Have a feeling that slimeballl curran will run wild on us tomorrow 

[coffee_rules]

In Rishi we trust

[AKane]

I actually feel better now ..... Vaughan has opened his mouth. That itself means something good will happen. He is like the contra-indicators in the share markets.

[nitinbwj]

57 minutes ago, Laaloo said:

Have a feeling that slimeballl curran will run wild on us tomorrow 

Yes.. That chhotu is the biggest penauti. 

[Gollum]

1 hour ago, Mariyam said:

They couldn't beat us when they had the umpires in their pockets on that dusty pitch in Champaner and we had Bhuvan.

 

Now we have Bhuvi and the BCCICC. No ways they are beating us. *evil laugh*

Legend yam, how drab this forum would be without you!!!

[Gollum]

1 hour ago, Laaloo said:

Have a feeling that slimeballl curran will run wild on us tomorrow 

You and Curran lol, 4  saal se use gaali dete aa raha hai tu, ab toh woh Chuski bhi hai .