Forget what happened in the Tests. England are no longer pushovers in limited-overs cricket

A 300-plus total, a left-arm spinner on the rampage and a boisterous crowd behind them: It was the perfect set-up for an Indian one-day win and nine out of 10 times you would expect MS Dhoni to shepherd his side across the finish line. Only, this wasn’t really an official ODI match, but a practice game.

Maybe it didn’t count towards a series score-line, but with a steely chase England got a point across with their warm-up win at the Brabourne Stadium on Tuesday. This is a different team than the one that came visiting before the turn of this year. This is a different team from the ones that have visited these shores before. Truth told, this is a different team from any England have put out in ODI cricket ever before.

English cricket’s fortunes have forever been in the doldrums. It is a fitting verdict, for they have always deemed an urn full of ashes more important than the biggest prize in this sport – the World Cup. You would think that the 2010 World Twenty20 win might have opened their eyes to the new avenues the game’s shorter formats might have to offer. Perhaps it did, but somewhere along the way, after another Ashes whitewash, they lost way again, not to mention their mercurial star player.

They chose to back Alastair Cook and not Kevin Pietersen, at a time when they should have looked for an amalgamation of their two styles. Every cricket administration has certain priorities. And there is a certain manner they want to pursue them. This is not about judging if this call was right or wrong. It is to underline that an embarrassing exit from the 2015 World Cup was the greatest depth England’s limited-overs aspirations could plummet to.

From that particular point in time, it wasn’t about Cook or Pietersen, as both were no longer on their limited-overs’ scene. It was about backing a new set of players, under new leadership and guidance, and undoing the damage that had already been done.

The Bayliss effect

Getting the right personnel was paramount and herein the coming of Trevor Bayliss was pivotal. As coach, he has been closely associated with how cricket is played in the sub-continent, particularly the fast pace in limited-overs that England didn’t identify with. Bayliss boasted of experience with Sri Lanka (taking them to 2011 World Cup final), and with Sydney Sixers and Kolkata Knight Riders. It made him the right man for the job, with the exact knowhow of what to do in limited-overs cricket.

Since his arrival, England have only lost two ODI series out of seven played. And they have played some exciting cricket, with specific highlights against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home. They beat Pakistan in the UAE too, and won against Bangladesh, the latter a fine turnaround after the series was pegged at 1-1. Notably, skipper Eoin Morgan and opener Alex Hales were missing from that tour.

This is where the narrative shifts to squad personnel. Gone are the days when England used to put out a stuttering squad in limited-overs cricket, a hash-up of their bench players from Tests, accentuated by some discarded options called up from county cricket. It was no longer the case, particularly starting with Morgan’s captaincy, as he promised an aggressive, different brand of cricket.

New brand of cricket

While Morgan had assumed charge before the 2015 World Cup, the true effects only started reeling in a few months later. It coincided with the emergence of a core group of players who wouldn’t be cowered into submission at the first hint of attack from the opposition. Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were central to defining this new outlook for England’s limited-overs cricket.

The key differentiator from the past herein is that almost all of them are involved with England’s Test squad, and are yet not afforded time off from ODI or T20 cricket. Instead, they are egged on by the administration to scale new heights in the shorter formats, thus providing an impetus to the captain and coach to plan ahead. Additionally, there is an increase in franchise T20 exposure for English players with a majority of them employed either in the IPL or the Big Bash.

Jason Roy, in particular, has had a galvanising effect on the fortunes of England’s top-order. Along with Sam Billings, he is a pertinent example of the fruit borne by their current approach to limited-overs cricket – less restriction, more slam-bang, no worry of retribution. It was this newfound, yet perfectly assimilated adventurism that helped England stun critics and neutral fans as they reached the 2016 World T20 final in India.

Never mind that they fell short at the final hurdle, but it was no embarrassment losing to a West Indies side that masters the shortest format. In fact, they exceeded expectations, perhaps even of their own in finishing runners-up back then. And thus, it puts their record on Indian soil under spotlight.

The last time England won a bilateral ODI series in India was in 1984. They drew 3-3 twice thereafter, in 1993 and 2002. Since then, however, England have only won three ODIs against India when touring here, in what has been a remarkable downturn in form and fortune. Alternately, in this interim, India have won four successive series, two of them 5-0 whitewashes in 2008 and 2011. On their last trip here, in January 2013, England bucked the trend in winning the first and fifth matches of the series, but in between surrendered the series once again.

In summation then, England’s ODI revival faces its toughest challenge yet, as the three-match series gets underway in Pune on Sunday.