New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS): England pacer Saqib Mahmood believes the visitors’ can still walk away with the ODI series win against India if they manage to win their last two games in Cuttack and Ahmedabad.
England lost the T20I series 1-4 to India, before losing the ODI series opener in Nagpur by four wickets .
“I know the tour hasn’t results-wise been the best, but we’ve just got to keep sticking to what we believe in as a group and sticking tight together – hopefully we can reap some rewards.
“You’ve got to remember coming to India and playing against India is probably one of the hardest jobs (in cricket). If we can put up a good fight in these last couple of games, we could potentially walk away with the ODI series win.
“Things like that don’t happen that often in India. We’re just looking ahead now. It’s important to move on otherwise a lot of things can linger around and you could take past failures into the next game, which is what nobody wants,” Mahmood was quoted as saying by The Independent on Saturday.
He also felt that tearaway quick Jofra Archer hasn’t got much luck in picking wickets, as India’s batters are using his pace to get their runs.
“Figures in this format, especially T20, they don’t always do people justice. You see some guys bowling a pile of rubbish some days and they get wickets.
“Then you see someone like Jof running in, bowling rockets, swinging the ball and you just have to give credit to batters. That’s been the case out here, but I think Jof’s been bowling really well – he’s a match-winner, he’s that X-factor bowler that we’ve got. From within the group, everyone’s happy with how he’s going,” he added.
Mahmood signed off by saying playing on Indian pitches will assist England in their preparation for the Champions Trophy, where they will play their Group B matches in Pakistan.
“Playing against this opposition and on these wickets will sharpen up my game so, when you go out to Pakistan, you’ll be in a good place ready to compete from game one. If you look at the Champions Trophy, it’s not that long at all, you’re playing a max of five games and the first three are hugely important to qualify (for the knockout stages).
“With the timing of this (series), you’re exposed to the hardest of tasks then you can have a little bit of downtime to reflect and then go into the Champions Trophy, where you’ve got to be on it from ball one,” he concluded.