ENG vs IND: No More Platitudes, No More Being Nice Says Geoffrey Boycott To England

Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott said that Joe Root and his team need to stop being nice. He added that Root and head coach Chris Silverwood need to take a leaf out of Virat Kohli's warrior

The 80-year-old believes that Australian pacers will be studying every move of England's batsmen ahead of the Ashes at the end of the year. "The Australians will have watched the footage from the Oval. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will be queuing up to bowl at us."

Boycott concluded by saying that England's batsmen need to have a re-look at their ways of handing pressure in crunch situations and try to stand up instead of collapsing under it.

"The England batsmen need to stand in front of a mirror and be honest with themselves. Ask what is going through their mind in tight situations? Whatever it is, change it because it is not working. Everybody has nerves, expectations and heightened emotions when batting but we have to conquer them and play well. Our guys just collapse under pressure."

"You have to ask yourself, what is pressure? As Keith Miller famously said: "Pressure is when you have a Messerschmitt up your arse going to blow you to kingdom come." He was saying that pressure when you are batting is not the same as when your life is on the line and you could lose it in a second. You have to handle it. Our guys are just not doing that. Looking good, being pleasing on the eye and a nice lad doesn't help the team in tight spots. Give me tough over good every time."