'We need to get our act together'

The conditions at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium made England struggle against Afghanistan and captain Eoin Morgan admitted that they quickly need to get their act together before their next  match against Sri Lanka at the same venue on Saturday.  

Afghanistan spinners had England tottering at 50/5 and Morgan said they faltered in execution of their plans.

“I think a lot about the wicket. Coming here and playing a T20 World Cup, I think this is the kind of wicket that every single of us was expecting. We spoke a lot about it before we played. I think executions of our plans today were off by a long way. It's very important between now and the Sri Lanka game that we sit down as a group and emphasize what we are trying to do and make sure it's the right plan, reinforce that, “Morgan said.

He, however, brushed aside talks of concern over their batting. “We chased down 230 a game ago. It was simply a matter of not adapting. We have been practising similar things that we needed today but we actually just didn't produce.”

Morgan also praised the unbeaten partnership of Moeen Ali and David Willey. “It was very important. The difference of chasing 120 and 140 is huge. One of our strengths is we bat right down the order. I thought he (Ali) batted really well. Afghanistan were playing four spinners and only one seamer. They would run the risk of having to bowl the last few overs with the off-spinner. So it was a risk that you do take.” 

Afghanistan batsman Rashid Khan admitted that England took the game away from them.

“It was a good game. The way the spinners bowled, we just tried our best to restrict them under 100 but unfortunately they played good cricket, specially Moeen Ali, who took the total to 140,” he said.

“We thought we have a game 100 percent. They played good cricket at the end and took the game away from us. Moeen played well. He played according to the situation. He rotated the strike well.”