AHMEDABAD: England pacer Mark Wood on Wednesday said that his partner-in-crime Jofra Archer always keeps the pressure on the opposition and as a result, the batsmen are forced to go after the other bowlers in the team, leading to dismissals.
Wood had rattled India in the third T20I as he dismissed the likes of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Shreyas Iyer as England registered an emphatic eight-wicket win to go 2-1 up in the five-match series.
“Jofra starts a lot of the times, because he keeps the pressure on, it forces the teams to take risks against the other bowlers. He keeps it tight, when I started well and I got the wicket, they had a new batsman and we could get a few dot balls in to build pressure. It is just about bowling in tandem and keeping the pressure on for each other. Just trying to make sure that we did not give anything loose,” said Wood during a virtual press conference.
Wood had not conceded many runs in his first three overs in the third T20I, but skipper Kohli showed his class in the death overs and he made a mockery of Wood’s fourth and final over. The Indian skipper utilised the crease really well and he went deep inside the crease to hit a pull shot off Wood that went ten rows into the stands.
“We have a plan as a group. Chris Jordon is an experienced bowler. We decide on the ball we are going to bowl and then you try to execute that. The plan was good but the execution was wrong. On a couple of balls, I felt I executed what I wanted to bowl, but Kohli just played good shots and good players are allowed to do that. The first six he hit off me, was a hell of a shot,” said Wood.
“If you allow good players to get in, he got in and he took his time and he caught up with it in the end. He is a fantastic player, but we were pleased with the score we kept them too. I will take the battering in the end for the early wickets which I got,” he added.
India and England will now lock horns in the fourth T20I of the five-match series on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium.