England is all set to face India in a five-match T20 series starting from 22nd January. After playing T20is, the side will also play three-match ODI series as a preparatory series for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan.
For England, there will be one big change in the dressing room as Brendon McCullum will kickstart his white-ball head coach tenure for the Three Lions. McCullum is already a part of the red-ball cricket for the same side and famously introduced the new term “Bazball” to the cricketing world.
And for the white-ball tenure, Brendon is upbeat and ready to give it all in the limited formats of the game. Ahead of the 1st T20i against the World Champions India, the newly-appointed Head-Coach said he wants his side to play “watchable” brand of cricket.
“I’m desperate for us to play a really watchable brand of cricket,”
“With the talent we have, there’s no reason why we can’t. We’ve got a batting line-up which is as powerful as any batting line-up in the world. We’ve got gun spinners, very good fielders and guys who bowl absolute rockets with the ball, so you’ve got options there to be able to entertain and give yourself the greatest chance of success.”
Moreover, McCullum said that the English batting lineup is powerful but as of now his aim is to prepare the players, throw away their fears, instead of just focusing on winning.
“Obviously, we want to win every game we play, to try and be successful, and that’s ultimately the mission for us,” he said. “But our conversations and the language which we use within the dressing-rooms is quite different.
“It’s about trying to get the best out of the talent that sits within the dressing room, trying to gel the guys as best we can, trying to work out complementary skills, and how we play the style of cricket that gives us our greatest chance.
Talking about the captain, Jos Buttler, McCullum said his first task would be to cheer up the miserable captain who is currently battling from long-standing calf injury
“He’s smiling, that’s good. He’s very happy at the moment,” McCullum confirmed
“Obviously we’ve known for a couple of months that this was going to unfold, so there’s been plenty of time to chat to Jos over the last couple of months,” McCullum said. “When I took over the Test job, Stokesy and I knew each other and there was a mutual respect, but wouldn’t say we were friends necessarily, even though it’s now a really tight personal relationship, as well as a working relationship.
“With Jos, we actually start from a slightly stronger base. Jos and I have been friends for a long time, we’ve often shared some of the philosophies of the game, and that friendship gives us a really good base to be able to get things going pretty quickly with this team.
England squad for India series:
Jos Buttler (c), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood
