We didn’t bat well enough: Morgan
First Published : 21 Dec 2012, 02:26
Last Modified : 21 Dec 2012, 02:26
Although they got off to a good start after being asked to bat first in the first of the two T20Is, England were a few runs short while setting India a target at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium. Despite opener Alex Hales’ half-century, Yuvraj Singh’s all-round performance helped the home team post a comfortable victory in the end. The Indian all-rounder stemmed the flow of runs with three key wickets and then returned to play a quick fire knock.
While speaking to bcci.tv England skipper Eoin Morgan praised Hales’ batting and reflected on the match. The rookie England skipper who led his side in the first ever international match played at the stadium also talked about playing in front of a full house in Pune.
Excerpts from his brief interview:
On Yuvraj Singh’s performance
He played really well. And he struck the ball as he has done in the past and he batted really well and obviously hurt us with the ball. He helped take the game away from us. The score that we put on the board was probably 10 or 15 runs short of what we needed. It made things difficult when he did do what he did.
On India cruising to victory in the end, despite it being a close contest till a point
It would have taken something special to finish with a win and we kept on taking more wickets. The pitch was very good and the problem really lay with our batting. We didn’t bat well enough. We got off to a great start, but we didn’t continue. We lost wickets at regular intervals, which slowed our momentum and that didn’t help.
On Alex Hales’ 56-run knock
It was great. We have seen him play like that in the ICC World T20 and back home during our summer. He is a fantastic talent and a great prospect and again like Yuvraj, he is a great striker.
On the next match in Mumbai
We will all sit and talk and try and keep the confidence quite high and be positive about things.
On the positives from the T20I in Pune
There were a lot of positives here today. The two debutants [Stuart Meaker and James Tredwell] played really well and the start we got off to was magnificent, and we couldn’t have asked for anything better.
On being back on the ground again
Yes, absolutely it is great to be back.
On playing in front of a packed Pune crowd
It was great. It was certainly a different atmosphere from the Test matches and one that all of us players really enjoy.
