Turn on the power, please

As the dust settles on England’s ill-fated venture to India, the post-mortem has already begun. The obvious question springing to mind is how England, a team so feted little more than a month ago for its all-round excellence in every facet of the game, could falter so drastically away from home. It’s important that India gain all the plaudits they deserve, for what is a startling turnaround in their team dynamics.

While the injection of youth in India’s one-day side has played a vital part, it must be remembered that these players were present in the previous one-day series, and the contrast has been stark. In particular, fielding standards have shot through the roof, perhaps fuelled by the more familiar environment and characteristically vibrant home crowd. India’s batsmen have also relished the freedom of playing without the moving ball, and players such as Suresh Raina have enjoyed a renaissance of fortunes, able to play without fear or restraint. And that has really been the difference between the two sides.

Whatever failings England have had in the field, and there have been numerous ones, this series has been lost on account of England’s failure to put sufficient runs on the board. There are several explanations for this. Those who have followed the series on Sky in recent weeks will have listened to commentators’ focus on singles, or lack of them, and how the two sides have differed hugely in their ability to maneuver the field and rotate the strike. Inevitably, this has led to criticism of the middle order, and in particular Jonathan Trott, that great divider of opinion. While India have guided and angled the ball to all parts of the field, through skilled exponents such as Gautam Gambhir, England have appeared ponderous and lacking pro-activeness, culminating in too many dot balls. This has been embarrassingly exposed when facing spin and you need look no further than England’s spectacular and choking collapse in the final ODI to witness these shortcomings.

However, of equal if not more importance, when playing away from the swinging and seaming pitches of Blighty, are the Powerplays, or more generally, power batting. One-day cricket is a batsman’s game, increasingly so on the flat tracks of the subcontinent, and even more increasingly so since the advent of Twenty20. Scores have never been higher, and 300 is no longer a safe total. India are the world champions in ODI cricket because they possess the best batsmen for the format, and they combine the aforementioned pro-active rotation with brutal hitting in the Powerplays and towards the end of the innings. Therefore the key to succeeding outside home territory, where England’s top-class swing bowlers are able to win them matches, is a change of approach and mindset to batting on one-day cricket.

Too many times, England have failed to make use of the Powerplays. Fifteen for no loss after five just isn’t acceptable in this day and age. At the English domestic level, sides play 40 overs, and as well as providing spectator friendly start times, this form has encouraged more aggressive cricket. Indeed, the most successful counties in this year’s competition were those who approached their batting similar to a T20 match.

While 50 overs require a little more restraint, there are important lessons to be learnt from this modern approach. Run-rates were frequently higher than seven per over, and the most aggressive batsmen were richly rewarded. In this batsmen-friendly age of flat, covered pitches, players have realised that they don’t need to wait for a bad ball to hit boundaries. Young players like Jos Buttler and Jason Roy embody this Twenty20 generation which pushes the boundaries of limited-overs batting. They are yet to make their way onto the English ODI scene. However, in the wake of England’s whitewash, I hope that their time isn’t too far off. India have already seized upon this mentality, and it’s time for England to do the same. To take English ODI cricket to the next level, fearless batting is the order of the day.