ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: England aced the spin challenge, paralysed India by destroying their lethal weapon

“We are not for one minute going to take a backward step,”  Ben Stokes said after England’s defeat to Australia. England had endured tough few days in the build-up to the India match. Losses against Sri Lanka and Australia had pushed them on tenterhooks. This was one of the most feared teams in limited-overs cricket. They were touted as favourites to lift the trophy en route a smooth sail through the group stages. But suddenly they found themselves lost in the middle of nowhere. Naturally, the criticism rang across the country. A current and former England player were locked in the war of words. There were questions raised about their ability to perform under pressure. Ability to adapt to different surfaces. [caption id=“attachment_6908701” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jonny Bairstow made good use of reverse sweep against Kuldeep Yadav. Reuters[/caption] Their biggest strength - their batting - had crumbled twice in a row - against Sri Lanka and Australia - a rare occurrence. Their success over the last four years was built upon their aggressive approach which tore apart the opposition attacks. That approach was questioned. Whether it was the right way to go? Whether it was one-dimensional? However, Stokes was defiant that England won’t take a backward step. “Two back-to-back losses can sometimes make you think differently as a team,” Stokes said. “But we are not going to go away from our method of playing. We just need to adjust to situations and conditions, but we are not for one minute going to take a backward step. Especially in these last two group games.” England were under a lot of pressure when they took the field against India at Edgbaston. However, they responded in the typical ‘England style’ that made them such a dangerous side in limited-overs. As promised by Stokes, there was no backward step as they took the quintessential aggressive approach that has defined this new England side. And at the center of this aggressive approach was their calculated assault on the spinners which paralysed India. The trend of the tournament for India’s bowling has been: The pacers stifle the batsmen in the powerplay, and then the spinners feast on the frustration before the seamers come back to deliver the knockout punch. The two wrist-spinners were going to play a crucial role in the middle overs with the tournament progressing as the pitches were getting slower. So, England went the ‘England way’ and countered them with ultra-aggression to neutralise their effect. After being asked to bat on a flat wicket, the Indian seamers, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed, started off well but without luck. Edges, inside and outside, flew. Edges were beaten. While Jonny Bairstow looked tentative, Jason Roy seemed relatively solid. The Roy-Bairstow stand had already scored 278 runs at 69.50 with one fifty and one century partnership in the tournament. This is the pair that had scored most runs and hundred-plus partnerships in the last two years. They were reunited again after Roy’s return from injury. Kohli knew the importance of breaking the stand. He introduced Chahal into the attack in as early as the sixth over. It took Bairstow just three balls to signal his intent. A nicely timed loft over mid-on, off a flighted delivery from the leg-spinner had set the tone. It also gave an indication of Bairstow’s mind and intent: he isn’t going to let the spinner settle. Roy further strengthened the intent with back-to-back fours off Chahal’s next over. Kohli took Chahal off and brought him back in the 12th over. He bounced back well to concede just two. However, off his next over, Roy reverse swept him for four before Bairstow launched into the slog sweep for the first six of the innings. England had now gained momentum. Kohli brought Kuldeep Yadav on. One ball into his spell, Roy Charged down the track and hammered him straight back over his head and then Bairstow heaved away a full toss one ball later to the deep mid-wicket fence for four. The strategy was simple. Don’t let the spinners settle. The Indian spinners had the best average - 34.43, second-best strike-rate - 41.5 and a third-best economy rate of 4.96, among the spinners, before this match. And It was important to not let them attain the rhythm which then makes them so deadly. The England batsmen played to a plan. They targetted the short boundaries, used the feet to get to the pitch of the ball and negate the turn and disturbed the lengths by playing reverse and slog sweeps. What helped them was they were reading the ball well off the hand also and picking the variations. With the bowler bowling from Birmingham End, the batsmen targetted the 59-meter short boundary on the leg side (off side for a left-hander) while when the bowler was bowling from the Pavilion end, that same 59 meter which was now on the off side (leg side for a leftie) was targetted. Bairstow and Roy launched into the spinners and England went from 47/0 in 10 overs to 160/0 in 22 overs. 113 runs from 72 deliveries at 9.42 runs per over. The spinners were hit for 81 from 8 overs in that period. That according to England captain Eoin Morgan was the difference. “That period from 10 to 20 overs was probably the difference between the game,” Morgan said in the post-match press conference. “I think we scored about 90-something runs in 10 or 11 overs. And it was quite evident to see, when the seam was run, the ball was not coming onto the bat, a little bit two paced, a little bit of purchase from cutters, slower balls. “So Jonny and Jason can make a wicket seem flat at different stages, and they did through that period. So it was a great period for us and obviously got us off to an unbelievable start. So we felt we were ahead of the game at that time.” Bairstow and Roy had gauged that the wicket was getting two-paced and it would be difficult to hit the pacers especially when they take the pace off the ball. Kuldeep then picked up Roy (66 off 57) but Bairstow (111 off 109) kept chipping runs off him via the reverse sweeps. Later on, Ben Stokes (79 off 54) too made use of the sweep and reverse sweep to dismantle Chahal. He also ended up hitting an outrageous reverse sweep six off Chahal over the point boundary. England scored 27 runs off the reverse sweeps. Sixty-eight percent of Bairstow’s runs were scored against the spinners (76/111) and he did it at a strike rate of 138 as he scored 34 off 29 balls against Chahal and 42 off 26 against Kuldeep. Roy hit 36 from 25 (SR 144) off spinners while Stokes scored 29 off 15 balls (193) off the two wrist spinners. Chahal conceded 88 runs off his 10 overs without taking a wicket, worst by an Indian bowler at a World Cup while Kuldeep bounced back well to end with 10-0-72-1 after being initially hit for 46 from four overs. The two spinners conceded 160 runs from 20 overs at 8 runs an over while the pacers combined to concede at 5.76 runs an over. Bumrah was just imperious, with figures of 10-1-44-1. Shami went for runs in the end, but he also accounted for five English wickets. The assault on spinners was a game changer. It was a statement of intent from the English batsmen that they weren’t going to veer away from their aggressive style of play. It helped England register a competitive 337 on the board and thrust the scoreboard pressure which India succumbed to later on. The pitch got slower in the second half and England adapted to it well. Their pacers took the pace off the ball and used the slower bouncers to good effect. England delivered under pressure, something which they haven’t been able to in the last two matches, and they did it in their own style – by destroying the opposition’s most lethal weapon. For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, click here