Brendon McCullum calls England batters 'really good players of spin' despite humiliation vs India
Published - 04 Feb 2025, 02:46 PM
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England National Cricket Team head coach Brendon McCullum has urged his players to step up and be ruthless against the India National Cricket Team spinners in the upcoming three-match ODI series, starting on February 6 in Nagpur, after a humiliating 4-1 T20I series setback.
The recently concluded five-match T20I series was expected to be a fierce battle between India and England, but it turned into a one-sided affair as the Varun Chakravarthy-led spin attack dismantled the tourists’ batting lineup with extreme ease throughout the series.
Brendon McCullum stresses aggression as key to bounce back against India in ODIs
On pitches offering a fair contest between bat and ball, the Indian spinners were unstoppable. Varun Chakravarthy was the architect of England's downfall, taking 14 wickets at an average of just 9.85 in the five T20Is to clinch the Man of the Series award.
Ahead of the first ODI in Nagpur, Brendon McCullum admitted that the England cricket team lacked aggression at times during their T20I series loss to India. The England head coach stressed the need to keep applying pressure in T20Is, as there’s no room for submissive play in this format.
Brendon McCullum was quoted as saying by The Indian Express, “At times, we’ve been a touch tentative. We want to keep trying to apply pressure. Particularly when they’ve got such a good batting lineup, you don’t really have a time where you can just take time out of the game. Four or five years ago in T20 cricket it was like that, and I think we’ve seen it evolve so quickly that there is no dead time now.”
We’ve probably not been at our best against Indian spinners: England coach
Furthermore, McCullum acknowledged that England’s batters are really good players of spin, but they were not at their best and struggled to handle Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi. Well, despite the embarrassing T20I series loss to the Men in Blue, the England coach has insisted that the team is working on a clear strategy to improve and bounce back in the ODI series.
McCullum further added, “I think our guys are really good players of spin. We’ve probably not been at our best against them, but credit goes to Chakaravarthy and (Ravi) Bishnoi as well. I know the scoreline reads 4-1, and it’s disappointing to lose the series, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. I think we’ve seen a pretty clear game plan of how we want to play the game.”
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Saqib Mahmood set to play in Nagpur ODI
The English coach also confirmed that Saqib Mahmood will play in the three-match ODI series opener against the Indian cricket team in Nagpur. He also lauded Mahmood’s performance in the fourth T20I in Pune, where he picked up three wickets in his first over.
McCullum signed off by saying, “Saqi was outstanding in the fourth T20, and he’ll play in the first ODI as well.” Notably, the second and third ODIs will be played on February 9 and 12 in Cuttack and Ahmedabad, respectively, before they travel to Pakistan and UAE for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
