Former England cricketer Nasser Hussain has urged the Jos Buttler-led England side to spoil India’s party and hand them their first-ever defeat when they play against the host side on Sunday in the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
England positioned ninth on the points table are running on the knife’s edge and are almost out of the semis race. However, Nasser still finds the England side a dominating team that must rise from the Ashes to show their capabilities.
"The players must take the responsibility for this. I'm not a great one for cliches like playing for the badge, but that's what England have got to do now. They have to go to Lucknow on Sunday and spoil India's party. They must remind India and the world just how great cricketers they have been and still are," Hussain wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.
Earlier after the daunting loss against Sri Lanka, Nasser questioned England's approach in the white ball cricket and urged them to sneak out of the hole and take individual responsibility stating “end of an era of the English Team”
We are talking about some of the greatest players in our white-ball history, but this has just turned out to be a bridge too far for some of them," Hussain told Sky Sports."I wouldn't have changed the side before this tournament, but I would definitely be thinking about changing it now because it does feel like the end of an era.
That doesn't take anything away from what this England side has achieved. We can be all doom and gloom and say, 'get rid of the lot of them' but they have given us six or seven years of absolutely brilliant white-ball cricket."
India with five wins in five games is the only team to be defeated in the World Cup. They sit second on the points table after South Africa and have been very clinical with their performance. England will be locking horns with host India on Sunday at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.