PUNE: As expected, England skipper Eoin Morgan isn’t expecting his refreshingly free-spirited side to have it easy in the limited-overs series against India, starting with the first of three ODIs here on Sunday. That despite the fact that the visitors start as equals, if not firm favourites, against Virat Kohli’s men.
“It’ll be a huge challenge for us, but it is also impossible to beat India, as we saw when the South Africans turned India over, and New Zealand pushed them close as well. It’s nice to come to a country and play a series amidst all the hype and attention, but most important will be adapting to conditions and overcoming them,” said Morgan on Saturday.
The former Ireland cricketer did agree that his side would draw motivation from their run to the final of the World T20 in India last year when they lost in heartbreaking fashion to the West Indies. “The thing we’ll draw from that run is the confidence that we’ve played in these conditions and done well. Heading into the event, there was just four of us I think who had played in India before, so yes, that success helped. The mental battle, especially, of overcoming conditions was won,” added Morgan.
The 30-year-old stated that he wouldn’t term his team as fearless. “I would like to think that we play in our own way, and the players are very outgoing, expansive and explosive. They do what they set out to do, and stick to their natural game, which is aggressive. It works for us, as being like other teams don’t suit us, and we’re comfortable in our own skins.”
In response to Kohli’s slight dig that England didn’t concentrate on strike rotation that much, Morgan said felt was a fine balance there. “It’s a fine balance between both. At no stage do we want to hamper or limit our batsmen, so finding a balance between being positive and smart is tricky at times,” he opined.
With his own form under scrutiny recently, Morgan noted that he had learned to build a tolerance towards criticism. “All news has only come to me through my close friends and family. But I’ve built up a reasonable tolerance over the years and stuck with what has worked for me, and that’s the only thing of interest to me,” concluded the first of only two players in history to score an ODI hundred for two nations.