Before the T20 series, Kohli had said that the top-order batsmen would play freely considering the depth in the Indian batting, especially with power-hitters like Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya in their ranks.
Shreyas Iyer en route his 67 against England in the first T20I. Pic/AFP
India are unlikely to abandon Virat Kohli’s plans of playing freely in the T20 Internationals being played at the Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera. And, wrecker-in-chief in the first match, Jofra Archer, believed England cannot get ahead on one win in the series.
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“We definitely won’t change [Kohli’s plans] because if you see the power-hitters down the line, we don’t have to change anything,” India’s star performer in the first match with 67 runs, Shreyas Iyer, told a virtual press conference. “Honestly, we have our plans and we need to execute as much as possible because for the World Cup, we need to see that we have ticked all the boxes,” he said, explaining the larger picture that the Indian team were looking at while playing in the last international series before the T20 World Cup.
“This five-match series is a perfect time to try different stuff and see what suits us.”
Before the T20 series, Kohli had said that the top-order batsmen would play freely considering the depth in the Indian batting, especially with power-hitters like Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya in their ranks. “We want to be a side that play free cricket,” Kohli had said.
However, in the first match, the Indians didn’t recover after three early wickets in the powerplay.
“Obviously, the conditions and the situation we were in, were challenging. We had to play our natural game and see to it that we keep the scoreboard ticking, irrespective if we lost early wickets,” Iyer explained the team’s philosophy of how they would approach the shortest version of the game leading up to the World Cup to be played in October-November.
Not getting carried away with an emphatic win to start the series, England pace spearhead Archer reckoned: “It’s just the first game of the series. We still have four games to go. They are No. 2 in the world for a reason.
“So, I don’t think we can get ahead of ourselves as yet.”
For the second match on Sunday, over 65,000 fans are expected to pack the stadium amidst Covid-19 concerns.
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