11 players of England equal to 18: 7 players have more than one role, and only 2 all-rounders in Team India

England was the champion of the 2022 T20 World Cup. The cricketing world saw how the team led by Jos Buttler defeated strong teams like Pakistan and India by playing fearless and aggressive cricket. In the semi-final and final match, even though 11 players from England had entered the field, they were equal to 18 players. There were 7 players in the team who had more than one role. In this story, we will know how and why the England team can play this kind of cricket...

Lessons learned from defeat 7 years ago

The 2015 ODI World Cup was played in Australia. England was out in the very first round of this World Cup. After this, the team got transformed. This team has become world champion twice since 2015. Oyen Morgan was the captain of this team in 2015. Meanwhile, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) decided to give a new look to its team.

This campaign of Morgan and ECB paid off and in the T20 World Cup played in India in 2016, England stepped into the final. At that time she could not win but played in the final. The team reached the semi-finals in the Champions Trophy played in 2017. After this, in 2019, England won the ODI World Cup for the first time by defeating New Zealand.

England's team changed completely in this journey. The team had more than 5 players who could both bat and bowl. Before the start of the 2022 World Cup, the form of the team was not special. The team also lost against Ireland, but then the world saw the comeback.

Now know how England can play aggressive cricket

The England team can play aggressive cricket because their players are confident that the team has more options in both batting and bowling. Let us understand with a small example.

England had both aggressive openers in this World Cup in the form of Jos Buttler and Alex Hales. Both hit big shots in the power play. In the first 6 overs, they make 60 to 70 runs. Jos Buttler scored 26 off 17 balls even after Hales was dismissed in the final against Pakistan.

The batsmen coming in after both the openers are Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, and Sam Karan. All of them are experts and capable of playing big shots.

That's why England players play aggressively and without fear. It is not so in the team of India and Pakistan. Indian and Pakistan openers looked defensive in the World Cup. Team India scored just 38 in the semi-final powerplay against England. Throughout the World Cup, Indian openers scored runs at a strike rate of less than 100 in the powerplay. Rohit Sharma scored around 95 in the powerplay while Lokesh Rahul scored a strike rate of around 90.

Barring Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, there is not a single batsman in the Indian team with a strike rate of more than 150 and playing fearless cricket with the very first ball. The same is the case with Pakistan. Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood. Not all of them can hit big shots from the first ball. He needs more than 10 balls to keep his eyes on the pitch. Here both teams are defeated by England.

same problem in bowling

England had 7 bowling options in the form of Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Sam Karan, Chris Jordan, and Adil Rashid. At the same time, India and Pakistan did not have this. Both these teams came with 5 to 6 bowling options.

Former cricketers also want the same

Former captain and coach of Team India, Anil Kumble has spoken about this on a channel. Kumble said- If we look at the winner of this time's T20 World Cup and the winner of last time's Australia team, there is no dearth of all-rounders in both the teams. Liam Livingstone comes to bat at number 7 in the England team, while Marcus Stoinis comes to bat at number six in Australia.

India should learn from these teams.

Pakistan lost to an all-rounder from Zimbabwe

Small teams made many upsets in this World Cup. The biggest upset was Zimbabwe who beat Pakistan. In this match too, such a player changed the match who bowls along with batting. Sikandar Raza was the player of the match in the match. He took 3 wickets for 25 runs in 4 overs.

Raza has scored 1259 runs in 66 matches. Along with this, he has also taken 36 wickets.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: Rohit-Rahul failure, bowlers beating fiercely, 5 big reasons for India's defeat