NEW DELHI: The England bowling attack has been instructed to prioritize taking wickets over worrying about leaking runs against India’s ultra-aggressive batting unit, said senior paceman Mark Wood on Monday.
Wood, who is eaturing in his first international series since July, has bowled decently in the series so far. However, fellow pacer Jofra Archer conceded 60 runs in just four overs in the previous game in Chennai, with Tilak Varma slogging him to all corners of the park.
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India have taken their T20 game to the next level under skipper Suryakymar Yadav, and England must find a way to counter them in the third T20I in Rajkot on Tuesday. The hosts currently lead the five-match series 2-0.
“We’ll just be trying to take wickets. I don’t think (Brendon) McCullum wants us to worry about runs too much, he’s all about how can we impact the game that way,” Wood said on the eve of the third T20I.
“We bowled well in the last game as a group. With the target they were chasing (167), we were always looking for that attacking option of taking wickets. Some might have went for a few runs at times but I also felt what was going to win us the game was trying to bowl them out.”
England have struggled against the Indian spinners, while the pace group led by Wood has posed a few challenges for the host team’s batters.
The Rajkot pitch usually offers plenty of runs, making it a batters vs batters contest.
“Speaking of pace against spin, I still think we’ve got one of the best spinners in the world in Adil Rashid, he’s a huge weapon for us and every time he plays, he looks like he’s going to get wickets. I wouldn’t count him out of our attack, he’s a vital part of it,” said Wood.
“And we’ve got a lot of options: Livingstone, Bethell, if he comes back. As a pace bowling group, the other night maybe there was one or two overs we might have changed but in general we kept coming at the India batters.
“One guy played exceptionally well (Tilak Varma), if the luck was slightly different: a top-edge that went for six over the wicketkeeper, if that goes straight up in the air, it’s a different story,” explained the 35-year-old.
Coming back to action after a long lay-off, Wood is satisfied with the pace he is generating but is seeking more accuracy.
“I felt a little bit hit and miss – I’ve done a couple of good things, it’s great that my pace has been up there and I feel it’s coming out my hand well but the accuracy at times hasn’t been quite where I wanted it. But when I haven’t played since August, it’s pretty much expected – I’ve played two games since then.
“Hopefully the more I play, the better I get leading into the 50-over stuff and the Champions Trophy. I’ll keep trying my best and try to improve in training. Hopefully that narrows my focus even more.”
On India’s young guns including Varma and Abhishek Sharma, Wood added: “They play good shots. The depth of Indian batting, they have got experienced players and these young guys coming in but my concentration is on England.”
