England has more openers than intermediate stomachs can

With the promotion of Jos Buttler in the first place, where are the average drummers for England? © Getty

If England had doubts about the challenge posed by this Indian team, they are no longer after a humiliating eight-wicket defeat at Old Trafford. Virat Kohli's men are holding a crack and the heady days of the six It's not long since Australia whitewashed.

Of course, a defeat does not suddenly make England a bad side, but there are clearly areas where they were exposed to Manc hester. None was more striking than the average order ability to fight the spin of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav who combined to limit England to just 30 points between the 7th and 14th overs. Kuldeep took four wickets in those days, including three in a plus.

England is a very strong team in T20I cricket and the move to open the stick with Jos Buttler has reinforced the tactics to go hard in the first six overs. Since the last edition of the World T20, only full-fledged member nations of Australia have scored faster on the power play and England has averaged 4.58 balls in the first six overruns, a second place behind Australia.

Buttler drummer for England, recording his third half-century in as many innings opening the baton in T20I cricket. He is only the second player to score half a century when opening the first three innings, after Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka in 2010, and tonight he made that effort in England almost alone. Only two other English drummers made double-digit figures

That was the recent form of Buttler as an opener – he now has seven scores of more than 50 in his last eight rounds T20 – that's likely that he will be leading England in the first six overs for the foreseeable future. But England was already blessed with first-rate players before the move and the elevation of Buttler simply added to the number of drummers who would ideally open the innings.

Alex Hales is the only man to have scored a T20 for England – scored as an opener – while Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy were shooting up trees opening for the ODI. Joe Root, a touch and timing player, is also a high profile player and is not fit to beat in sixth place as he has done here. Captain Eoin Morgan is the only real average drummer in this team.

And it is in the middle order that England has tended to struggle lately. In both games against Australia during the Trans-Tasman Tri-Series of the winter, the England scores between six and sixteen were read: 7 for 67 in Hobart and 1 for 53 at the CWM. At least, there was an improvement in the next two matches against New Zealand. Before the winter, against the West Indies at Durham last summer, England lost 5 for 63 in the same period of ten innings.

Contrast the display of England today against Kuldeep and Chahal with the baton of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul after the power play had ended. After six overs, India had the same number of races, 53, as England. However, in the next five overs, Rahul and Sharma scored 70, taking Moeen Ali's first two overs for 30 and Liam Plunkett for one more than 20. That was a fine example of setting up the top three. a platform and kicking on it

Kuldeep difference, of course. Not only did it prove difficult for drummers to escape from England, but he continued to take wickets, which is not the worst combination. England drummers, including Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, just did not seem to take Kuldeep's bad shot – which he knocked down the pile – and the scarcity of left-handed cuffs gave him some novelty . None of the bowlers of England, and especially Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, had the same power.

"We were probably 30 or 40 courts," Morgan said. "The start was brilliant, all the feedback was that it was a good wicket, notoriously here, it gets a little harder, but I do not think that's the case, Kuldeep played well and we know that He knows we can play him better than this: from now on the next game, we will have to evaluate our plans, make sure they are the right ones and stay with them. "[19659008] It may be that England decides to take less risk against Kuldeep in the remaining matches to avoid a similar set of debilitating wickets. Buttler, Morgan and Hales were all fired by attempting big shots at the age of 23 while there was a general inability to turn the two spinners' strike that needs to be resolved. They could do with the wrong choice that is easier said than done.

"The longer the crease, the better you see the ball," said Morgan, hinting at perhaps a more cautious approach in the next two games. "It's going to be hard to start [against Kuldeep’s googlies] It's the hardest part of the batting strike [We need to] Face off more deliveries."

There is, of course, Ben Stokes coming back from this side and he should be available for the third match in Bristol. He is a true mid-range player and adds another left-handed option in the top six of England. Who would miss? Alex Hales, after his eight rounds of 18 rounds today, seems the most vulnerable and trading him with Stokes would allow Root to go back to number 3.

While the game plan of the game is over. England at the start of their innings is clear – and with Buttler at the top of the line, working better than ever – they must develop a similar method once the field restrictions are over. If this is not the case, spinners from India might have a field day in this series.

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