Follow UsFormer England skipper Nasser Hussain believes Jasprit Bumrah is the “best all-format bowler in world cricket” and has urged England to not panic after they were hammered by 10 wickets in the first ODI at the Kennington Oval on Tuesday (July 12).
Under new white-ball skipper Jos Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott, England also lost the T20I series 1-2 but Hussain is willing to give them more time to develop their own team.
"It was a walloping from the first ball to the last, a very one-sided game. India were far too good with the individual performances of Bumrah, Rohit (Sharma) and (Shikhar) Dhawan. India were brilliant and England were just not at the races," he told Sky Sports.
"Bumrah would have to be the best all-format bowler in world cricket. Who would be the challengers? Maybe Trent Boult, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Jofra Archer when fit. But right now, he is the best there is.
"The performance in this game was spectacular, high-class. Some of the balls were absolute jaffas. He has the unusual action and run-up so the ball does come at you like a thunderbolt. He also swings it both ways - but he does not just swing it, he is quick as well.
The likes of Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Buttler and Liam Livingstone all failed to deliver as England’s formidable batting line-up could only manage 110 in the first ODI. Indian openers Rohit and Dhawan then got the job done without losing a single wicket.
"I don't think you can be overly critical of England's batters. Sometimes you just have to say that it's wonderful bowling. It was hard work but it is supposed to be hard work. It is the highest level and is not supposed be a walk in the park for batters all the time," said Hussain.
"Today was a day to be a bowler and England's batters were found wanting - but it is absolutely not the time to panic in any way at all. There has been a complete change in management and it will take time for captain Jos Buttler and new coach Matthew Mott to develop their own team and squad. Let's be honest, Eoin Morgan is a very tough act to follow.
"I wouldn't be panicking about the batting line-up. I know that is an odd thing to say after 110 all out but they have a lot of batting that will get them runs in T20s and ODIs, so many options.
"With the ball, players like Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes are not there at the moment. Also, who is going to do the Liam Plunkett role? I think with Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali that they still have two excellent spinners but in the seam department they are very quickly going to have to work out who are going to be their most valuable and fit seamers in Australia to win them games (in the T20 World Cup later this year).
"It doesn't have to be express pace, either. Josh Hazlewood has been one of the best T20 bowlers of late. He is not always 90mph but he bowls a heavy length that hits the splice of the bat. So keep an eye on Woakes and Richard Gleeson. It's about saying to the batter 'you are going to have to produce something special to get me away'.
England bowlers didn’t have enough runs on the board but they made things more easier by constantly bowling full to Dhawan and short to Indian captain Rohit. “I know England were chasing this game [the first ODI against India] but they bowled drive balls that Dhawan could have hit for four with his eyes closed and short balls to Rohit that he could hit for six with his eyes closed.
"I'd like to know which analyst said bowling short to Rohit is the way to go. You just do not bowl short to him no matter how big the boundaries are. I could not understand that and they got it wrong."
Like Hussain, Buttler too is not too worried about England's batting. "You certainly don't want days like this to come. They have come few and far between so it's tough to take.
"It's certainly key not to panic, not to look too much into it and find too many faults. India bowled fantastically well and we didn't manage to deal with it as well as we'd have liked. But, if I look back over the past five or six years, batting has been our super strength in this form of the game. You look at the names of the guys in there, they are some of the best players we've had.
"We'll try and learn from it as much as we can but we'll stick to what we know. There's huge trust in that dressing room that there are brilliant players in there. We need to be positive, get back out there and put things right when we play on Thursday (in the second ODI at Lord's)."