Former India cricketer R Ashwin has urged England to take subcontinent tours "very seriously" following their 2025 Champions Trophy group-stage exit.
England suffered defeats in their first two fixtures of the Champions Trophy against Australia and Afghanistan, which knocked them out of the semi-finals race. As a result, England's poor form in limited overs cricket, especially in ODIs, continues; they were also eliminated from the first round of the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.
Speaking on his Hindi YouTube channel 'Ash Ki Baat', Ashwin took a dig at England's planning for the tournament, suggesting they were "low on confidence". He dissected England's failure in "execution" to contain Afghanistan’s Ibrahim Zadran, who scored a record match-winning 146-ball 177 in the Group B clash.
"The company that does the analytics for them is England’s home-grown company. They rely so much on analytical data, but when it comes to execution, they always falter," he said.
"Most of the runs in his [Zadran's] 170 came on the off side. Even when they bowled at his legs, he hit it towards long-on and not flicked it to the back. He is a very closed player, plays beside the line, and yet, how can England’s execution go so wrong? It means the problem started right in the planning stages. Such mistakes happen when a team is low on confidence.
Middle-over muddle and tempo troubles: Five issues England must fix in ODI cricket ⬇️https://t.co/rJquVghEBA
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 28, 2025
"As a cricket fan, I’d love for England to play a better brand of cricket. If not for Joe Root’s brilliance, they would have lost by a distance.
"You don’t have the technique to compete in Test cricket. What you are doing in Test cricket is hard to understand. You are not qualifying for the WTC finals either. You need to respect all the formats and make a game plan accordingly."
Ashwin: England should take subcontinent tours very seriously
Ashwin has emphasised that England need to take subcontinental tours more seriously, moving beyond the tendency to complain about conditions and instead focusing on adapting and proving their mettle in these conditions too.
"It's time England cricket takes subcontinent tours very seriously. Ravi Shastri made a pertinent point when he said there is no lack of skill with England, they should take subcontinental tours seriously, and not look at them just as 'complaint tours'," Ashwin said on his Tamil YouTube channel.
He further suggested that England could benefit from hiring coaches with subcontinental expertise, citing the example of Sridharan Sriram, who worked with Australia previously.
"We have employed foreign coaches in the past to make use of their intellect and expertise. It's a long list... and it is just now that there has been an influx of Indian coaches in the system.
"One makes you wonder if it is time the Western teams also employ coaches with subcontinent expertise. [Former India all-rounder] Sridharan Sriram was in the Australian team for a while. I think it is time to have this presence in many teams. Be it on sheer economy or cricketing craze, the subcontinent is a few notches above the rest. Of course, crowds fill up the stadiums there too... but all said and done, it is a summer sport for you, but it is a 12-month sport for us. The subcontinent is emerging at the forefront of the game.
"There have been constant complaints about pitches, preparations, etc. for years and years. Put all that aside. If they come to this country, there is a next-level respect for cricket. Why don't they want to come and perform well in such a country?
"Don't we want to go and prove our mettle in tours to England and Australia? Don't they have the same enthusiasm when coming to India? Instead, three days before a match, they will do a 'pitch watch', put a close-up photo of the pitch, saying it is hard to play on this wicket, etc. Just come to play quality cricket."
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