There was a time when English conditions were considered ‘extremely difficult’ for the batsmen. With the ball swinging, the batters often found it challenging to play freely. But times have changed.
The pitches in England have become flatter over the years with the recent ODI series between England and Pakistan witnessing scores of 350 runs or more almost regularly.
Keeping that in mind, India head coach Ravi Shastri revealed that his team will need to be flexible since overcast conditions can change the dynamics anytime.
“I think our mantra will be to be flexible according to the conditions because this is one country in the world where the pitches may be flat but if there is overcast condition then you have to be up for it,” Shastri said.
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“In no other country, overcast conditions matter so much but in England they do, London might not make that much of a difference but if you go up north and it does get overcast then you will see things happen, so we have to be ready for that and prepare to be flexible.”
The head coach also admitted that the team should not try to do anything different.
“This team has played good cricket in the last five years. They have been striving for consistency. They will not play any differently because it is World Cup. They need to enjoy it and if they play to their potential, the Cup can be ours,” he said.
The head coach was quite happy with the bowling attack as well. “This is an experienced unit. They have been together for the last 4-5 years, they have bowled as a unit together, they accomplished what they set out to do in Tests and the endeavour will be the same here as well — to complement each other and keep the pressure right through the 50 overs,” Shastri said.
Though captain Virat Kohli agreed that there would be some high-scoring games, he also pointed out that some teams will manage to defend lower totals.
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“In the ICC tournaments, the pitches are going to be very good and it’s summer in the UK, so the conditions are going to be nice as well. Yeah, we expect high scoring games but bilateral series, compared to a World Cup, is very different,” he said.
“You might see a lot of — I wouldn’t say low-scoring games but — 260-270 kind of games and teams getting those totals and defending them successfully. So, we expect all kind of scenarios in the World Cup, but there will be quite a few high-scoring games, looking at the conditions,” Kohli, who will be leading India in a World Cup for the first time, said.
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