Are England Hiding Behind 'Play Without Fear' Mantra?

Derek Pringle analyses why Eoin Morgan’s men hit the panic button against India and fell into a spiral of self-destruction.

- Derek Pringle

England’s humiliating self-combustion in the face of what most commentators were saying was a par T20 score for Bangalore, was as wilful an act of self-destruction as I have seen. Never has the old cliche of players’ minds being on the Business Class seat taking them home rather than the challenge in front of them seemed more apt.

To lose three or four wickets in 19 balls in a short format like T20 would be deemed careless but to lose eight, as England did, on the best batting pitch of the series, suggests a collective failure of mind and mettle.

England were 119-2 in the 14th over when Eoin Morgan, the captain, top edged a sweep off Yuzvendra Chahal to deep square leg and was caught. Morgan was going well but it was certainly not disaster. At the same stage of their innings India were only one run to the good at 120-3. But Chahal is a leg-spinner and one England seemed unable to pick, so when he had Joe Root lbw next ball with a slider the panic button was struck with calamitous consequences.

It can be difficult to gather your thoughts in front of an Indian cricket crowd on the verge of ecstasy, but modern players are meant to be attuned to all eventualities what with their travelling retinue of psychologists, analysts, doctors and masseurs, not to mention the coaches. But is what happened next, as player after player chose the dumbest option available to throw away their wicket, a failure of the individual or a failure of the system?