India’s strength has been their pace bowlers’ ability to use the change of pace to make things difficult for the English batsmen. England’s pace bowlers, on the other hand, are a bit one-dimensional as they have not been able to master, or use, the change in pace. And to add to their woes, their strike bowler Jofra Archer is out of the ODI series due to injury.
England have also not been able to conjure up the form that won them the 2019 World Cup. They have lost four of the last five matches they have played, including the previous game.
The visitors’ middle-order batting has struggled throughout the six shorter format matches in India. Even in the first ODI, while the openers provided a blistering start, raising 135 in just over 14 overs, the middle and lower-order came unstuck against India’s tight and inspired bowling.
Adding to their woes will be the absence of skipper Eoin Morgan who sustained a split webbing between his thumb and index finger in Tuesday’s series opener, an…
