CUTTACK: Axar Patel was down on his knee laughing at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Thursday. He couldn’t believe what had happened and neither did England captain Jos Buttler. Having bowled what was possibly his worst delivery of the match — a half-tracker — all Axar would have expected was Buttler to smash it.
And so did Buttler as he went back in the crease to pull it. But the ball kept low, Buttler tried to adjust but it was so low that he got into an awkward position as the ball took the top edge and fell right into the hands of Hardik Pandya at short-fine leg. Just when it seemed like Buttler was building a partnership with Jacob Bethell, the England captain fell in a way that summed up the series so far for them.
Build momentum, take on Indian bowlers, and lose the plot against the run of play. It happened earlier in the powerplay when a horrendous mix-up led to the run out of Phil Salt. With Ben Duckett trying to keep going, he too fell shortly after. The result and pent-up pressure from a confident Harshit Rana meant Harry Brook, who is struggling for form, got out in the same over.
It is not just that. Even later in the innings, when England still had eight overs to go with just three wickets in hand, Bethell, who had fought hard for a fifty, went after Ravindra Jadeja only to be trapped on the pads. Trying to double down on their intent, which did not necessarily work in the T20Is, England continued to lose wickets in clusters and as a result conceded control and momentum to India. Only if they had they managed to add another 40-odd runs, it could have changed the course of the match in the second innings.
Buttler admitted as much after the loss on Thursday. “We were probably another 40 or 50 runs (short) on that total — with the way the wicket was turning at the end, we would have been in a good position to try to win the game,” Buttler said. “We really had the momentum at that point and absolutely once we've got it, we need to continue to keep putting the opposition under pressure for longer. I think that's been the story for us so far — how can we keep that momentum going for a bit longer when we've got it? And when we've got it, hold on to it,” he added.
For a team that set the tone on being proactive and playing an aggressive brand of cricket between 2015 and 2019, England seem to have lost the way in the format. Yes, they perhaps were at the front and centre of the ODI revolution which India and the rest of the world caught upon the next cycle, but for some reason England have not been able to sustain the same. If one has to look deeper, there seems to be an underlying factor. For every Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy and Buttler, England had an Eoin Morgan and a Joe Root and a Ben Stokes between 2015 and 2019.
The four years leading up to the 2023 ODI World Cup had more or less similar players but they were well past their prime. And it showed as they barely managed to qualify for the Champions Trophy finishing seventh with three wins. Even today, Root and Buttler are the only survivors from the top six that won the 2019 WC. They knew how to manipulate the field, building innings without necessarily having to go gung-ho against bowlers. Nagpur saw a glimpse of it when the duo was batting together for a while.
The rest of the batting line-up is either not used to doing that — the conditions and the formats they play might have a part — and some of them don’t have the experience either. Someone like Bethell, who bats very similar to a young Stokes, could come in handy in the future. For now, however, England need a fix. Brook’s confidence and form are at a low. Salt and Duckett are just sticking to one plan while Liam Livingstone hasn’t been consistent for a while.
Not the kind of form England would want to go with into the Champions Trophy, where they will play their games in Pakistan. Buttler felt that reading situations and trying to keep the momentum for longer is the key. “I think it's about always reading situations and trying to understand the game, what's required of you and keep...it's important when you've got the game and momentum, how can we keep it for longer,” he said.
Now, they might still be able to do that in Pakistan given the conditions and the bowling attacks they will face. In Cuttack and Ahmedabad, however, if England want to turn things around and finish the tour on a high, they might have to come up with a few backup plans to adapt when things don’t go their way. Sunday will tell whether they can or not.