IND vs ENG 2018: Kuldeep Yadav is a Very Big Threat - Eoin Morgan

Eoin Morgan, on Tuesday, admitted Kuldeep Yadav is a big threat for England after the chinaman blew away the hosts in the first T20I in Manchester.

England’s frailties against spin were ruthlessly exposed by Kuldeep Yadav in the series-opener, as he tore through their middle-order. The spinner picked a career-best five for 24 before KL Rahul’s blistering unbeaten 101 from 54 balls took India to a thumping eight-wicket win.

Asked to bat first, England were comfortably placed at 95 for one in the 12th over before Kuldeep tore them apart. In his second over, he ended Hales’ (eight off 18) painful stay at the crease. But it was Kuldeep’s following over that really did the damage.

Eoin Morgan (7) holed out to the first ball and after Buttler took a single. Jonny Bairstow (0) and Joe Root (0) were both wholly deceived, as they played forward and were stumped.

Moeen Ali (6) kept out the hat-trick ball but soon sliced one to mid-off, handing Hardik Pandya a wicket to leave the hosts reeling at 117 for six. Kuldeep went on to complete his maiden five-wicket haul by taking the huge wicket of Buttler.

David Willey then played a fine cameo of 29* off 15 to help England go past 150. In the end, they had 159 runs to defend.

In reply, India rode on KL Rahul’s unbeaten ton to chase down the total with 10 balls to spare.

Speaking after the heavy loss, Morgan said the India wrist spinner is a big threat for the English batsmen.

“Kuldeep is a very big threat – we knew that. We maybe need to be a bit better with the way we go about our business,” Morgan told Sky Sports.

“It wasn’t a case of us chipping it up in the air. He completely deceived us, and I thought he bowled well. We know we can [do better], so we need to.

“The more time you spend at the crease, the better you see the ball. You go from sitting in the dugout to match pace and when a guy is three overs into his spell, it is going to be different. Everything seemed to happen pretty quickly so that’s something we will assess between now and the next game. Make sure our plans are the right ones and stick with them,” he added.

He also defended his teammates’ ploy of going for the big shots against Kuldeep, saying,

“But when the wicket is that good, I think you have to take positive options and when the boundary is short and the wind is blowing into it, it gives you that incentive to play those shots. We just have to be better at doing that.”

Morgan proceeded by saying that the visitors deserved to end up on the winning side.

“India thoroughly deserved it – they played well. The best part of our game was the start – Jos Buttler and Jason Roy played well and conditions were pretty good, but they fought back really well.

“Three wickets in an over knocked us back quite a bit – we never really regained momentum. That probably cost us 30 or 40 runs and, inevitably, when someone like Rahul gets in, it is going to be difficult to defend,” he said.

The two teams will lock horn in the second T20I on Friday in Cardiff.