England vs India T20i Series Player Ratings
England vs India T20i Series Player Ratings
That was certainly a series to remember. England looked a million bucks in the first game and hardly worth a cent in the final. This series was one that left a lot of questions open for England and there were very few standout performers in their ranks. None of their true gun T20 players came to the party. A lot of England's weaknesses were exposed more and more as the series carried on culminating in their dreadful bowling and batting collapse in the final game but that is for a separate post. For now I’m keeping things simple with some player ratings and a more broad review of the series!
Jason Roy: 4/10
Roy never looked comfortable after the first game and never truly clicked. Bhuvi had him on toast taking the ball this way and that. Roy and his fast starts are crucial to England's white ball success and it showed throughout this series as when he fired England did far better than when he didn’t. The concerns over his ability to play the ball turning away from him remain and the confusion about why he didn’t receive an IPL deal was firmly put to bed. Roy looked good but not great throughout the series and his discomfort throughout led me to give him a low score.
Jos Buttler: 5/10
A match winning career best score from Buttler secured England the 3rd T20i of the series but apart from that England's best batsmen never truly looked at his best nor did he deliver. Buttler had a quiet series by his standards and if I’m it was somewhat disappointing. Buttler looked ok for periods but never looked truly at his best. Whilst an average of 43 and a SR of 147 seem good Buttler also only clicked into his top gear once in the series and England will need more of their best player if they are to win the trophy later this year.
Malan 4/10: Malan was the focal point of much discourse throughout the series due to his slow scoring inside of the powerplay. In the first game Malan steered England's run chase home making sure nothing silly happened. In the 2nd he cost them the match by getting in and getting out on a fairly low and slow wicket. The 3rd and 4th games were much of the same with his slow scoring. The fifth game is what bumps Malan up from a 3 to a 4 for me with him playing a superb 66 before being clean bowled off Thakur. The only issue is Malan did slow up and before his dismissal was 21(15) and when the RRR was hitting 10 an over this just wasn’t good enough.
Bairstow 5/10: A fairly quiet series for Johnny and one which he won’t remember. His partnership with Buttler was crucial for England's win in the 3rd game and in the first he also steered England home. In between these knocks where middling returns and then in the 4th game he threatened to do something huge before getting out. As I said it was a quiet series for YJB but he is making that middle order spot his own.
Ben Stokes 2/10: Stokes, in my opinion, shouldn’t feature for England in T20is. Not only is not a good enough middle order batsmen/finisher with his slow starts harming England but his batting itself isn’t better than any of England's current top 3 or better than those waiting in the wings to displace them. Whilst Stokes does offer balance with his bowling it was not really good enough to be a 5th bowling option as teams know they can target him now. Stokes was pretty inconsequential with both bat and ball and never truly stamped his mark on this series.
Eoin Morgan 2/10: Morgan never got going with the bat and despite his recent numbers being superb he never made any real impact. His captaincy was debatable at times and so was his all around selection and tactics with it arguably costing England important passages of play if not games. Morgan will consider this series a failure and hopefully he learns from it.
Sam Curran 4/10: The youngest of the Curran Brothers Sam was the definition of a passenger for this series. He hardly got a bowl or a bat but his wicket maiden to KL Rahul does give him a few bonus points. As I said he didn’t do much so there’s not alot to write except that what he did do was to a fairly average if not below par standard. Curran is still England's best option at number 7 for me.
Tom Curran 1/10:
Tom was the victim of a Kishan onslaught in the 2nd game and once again really struggled to find his rhythm during his spell. On a wicket that should’ve suited Curran, with the ball dying in the surface, he just kept on getting it in the slot and he has very quickly gone from England's attack leader to many considering him not even their best backup. This was a poor series for Curran but hopefully we can see him bounce back sooner rather than later.
Chris Jordan 2/10: For a long time Jordan has been one of England's T20 bankers and his performances in an England shirt have been significantly above his domestic standard. This series however was a different story with Jordan not delivering on his main skill: death overs. Jordan is considered by many to be one of England's best death bowlers when in reality he really isn’t and it showed. This series and Kohli took him apart twice. Jordan's place in the side was once dead set but now it is shaking and England may soon have to look elsewhere.
Jofra Archer: 8/10
Jofra Archer was immensely good throughout this series and showed his surefire cricketing intelligence. The only time he didn’t look up to his usual standards was on the best batting deck of the series and even then he used his variations and all round T20 ability to his advantage. Archer is England's best T20 bowler and any success they are to have in the shortest format will be based on him and what he can deliver. He also can swing a bat pretty well too.
Mark Wood 7/10: For 3 games Wood was a 9 out of 10. He bowled quick, tight and hostile giving batsmen no room and making sure they never got away from him. Whilst his death overs leave a lot to be desired it’s his middle overs bowling that truly stands out as he can consistently hit the high 140s and bang it in. Wood is proving to be one of England's gun T20 bowlers and him and Archer may just be the best T20i opening partnership in the world. Wood was tonked in the final game but it was understandable. Overall Wood was my player of the series for England and I don’t think many England fans could argue with that.
Adil Rashid 7/10:
Rashid was superb for 3 of the 5 games and bowled some dross in the other 2. Nevertheless Rashid is one of England's sure bankers heading into the WC and he has now cemented his spot among the list of England white ball greats and is surely in contention with Rashid Khan to be the best white ball spinner in the world. He embraced his new power play role with open arms and was crucial to both of England's wins. Rashid is now 1 part of England's superb 3 prong attack along with Jof and Woody. Rash is one of England's finest talents and this could prove to be a huge year for him.
Overall it was an ok series for England and as always happens when you play some of the best about the flaws in your game are shown. England have sorted out their powerplay and middle overs but at the death they are now seriously exposed. If you follow me on Twitter you may know I have a big liking for Tymal Mills and especially his excellent use of cutters and slower deliveries which proved so vital for India throughout the series. Morgan has a lot to think about and so do the selectors. Any English death bowler must now be praying for a good hundred and blast to try and bowl their way into contention for a starting spot.
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