The England cricket team suffered a 3-0 ODI series sweep at the hands of India. The Rohit Sharma-led side had already sealed the series in Cuttak and it registered a whitewash with a one-sided victory in the final game in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. While the England cricket team was under scrutiny during the tour for its poor performance, the final match was no expection. As the visiting batters struggled against Indian bowlers during the game, former India batting all-rounder Ravi Shastri, who is now a commentator, lashed out at the visiting team. He pointed out that the England players didn’t have enough practice sessions.
“From what I’ve heard, England have had just one net session this entire trip, if not any. If you’re not prepared to do the hard yards, you’re not going to improve,” said Shastri during commentary in third ODI.
Not only Shastri, but England great Kevin Pietersen also slammed the guest batters.
“The 2-hour flight from Dubai across here. He (Tom Banton) was on the golf course yesterday. He wasn’t batting, and where have the issues come? The start, 1 for 60, 2 for 80. And then, what happens? None of them can play spin. And how do you improve playing spin?,” said Pietersen on-air.
Following the same statements, India head coach Gautam Gambhir poked fun at the England cricket team after the third ODI. At the end of the game, Gambhir came up for a post-match interaction with former India cricketers Deep Dasgupta and Abhinav Mukund, and England’s Pietersen.
“Who guides the youngsters,” asked Pietersen to Gambhir. “No one,” replied the India head coach.
“No one, guides the youngsters?” asked Pietersen again. To which Gambhir said,” Yeah! We practice so much.” After the reply, everyone burst into laughter.
Shubman Gill starred with a classy century as India beat England by 142 runs in the third ODI to complete the series sweep over the Three Lions at Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday.
The whitewash over England comes as a big boost for the Indian cricket team right ahead of the Champions Trophy that kicks off February 19. The Rohit Sharma-led side will be without its ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah into the tournament, but the series victory will definitely give them a lot of confidence.
After the third ODI, India captain Rohit said, “Very very pleasing (with the way the series went). We knew there would be challenges that we could face.”
“Obviously, there are certain things we are looking at and I am not going to stand here and explain those. It is our job as well to keep some consistency within the squad and the communication is clear.
“Obviously a champion team wants to get better every game and move forward from there,” he added.
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