Devansh Awasthi, our founder and CEO got in touch with Simon Willis. Both of them had a long chat and spoke about a lot of interesting topics which would excite each and every cricket fan out there. For those of you who don’t know, Simon Willis is an English former professional cricketer. A wicket-keeper, he enjoyed a seven-year career with Kent County Cricket Club, before moving into a variety of coaching roles at the club. He spoke a lot about the ongoing T20I series between India and England, the recently completed Test series between India and England as well as the upcoming T20 WC. Simon Willis even said that “England are an amazing T20I’S side and have improved their bowling of late, the only way India can defeat them is if they up their bowlers and manage to win the toss. The toss and bowling is what is going to determine the T20I series between the two sides”. Followed are a question and answers shared between the two.
Devansh: Ok so first things first, what is your prediction for the remainder of the T20I series? What do you think would be the the scoreline towards the end of the T20I series?
Simon: Well I’m sure that the series is going to go down the wire. I’m sure the score would be 2-2 before the last match, have a feeling that England might just win the last match and make it 3-2. Nevertheless I’m expecting a close contest between the two team.
Devansh: Ok and what about the ODI series? Who do you think would win the ODI series?
Simon: Well I’d say India this time. India are favourites going into the the ODI series as we’ve seen that England do struggle in slow spinning wickets.
Devansh: Ok so you feel that England would win the T20I series and India the ODI series right?
Simon: Yes
Devansh: Alright so my next question to you would be about Kohl’s form. Don’t you think that Kohli should drop himself and give Suryakumar Yadav or Ishan Kishan a chance? Didn’t the English LOI skipper Morgan himself once say that he’d drop himself for the betterment of the team?
Simon: True but I don’t seee that happening….Not untill the T20I World Cup. It is not possible to remove Virat from captaincy in any format if he is in the Squad.
Simon however felt that Kohli needs a break “Irrespective of how good you are, every human needs a break. Kohli at the end of the day is a human and India’s tight schedule must be difficult for him. I’d ideally want him to take a break instead” said Simon Willis. Both of them did have a conversation about how Rohit Sharma was a potential captaincy option as well. Simon even addressed the recently concluded Test series between England and India as well. He felt that it was a learning curve and should be taken as a stepping stone. “Most of the batters were new and inexperienced. Such kind of failures are what make you a better player as you tend to learn from your mistakes and thus this should be taken as a learning curve”. He also took an example of a few English legends. “Former cricketers such as Cook and KP got better with time and eventually improved, nothing was on the spot. Hence I feel this Test series should be taken as a learning curve” he said. Last but not the least, Simon Willis also spoke about England’s rotation policy. “The issue over here was the bio-bubble. Bio-bubble tends to take a toll on you mentally, thus England adopted the rotation policy in order to ensure that none of their cricketers have any sort of mental fatigue or anything” he said. It was a great interview with Simon Willis and team Cricketekeeda wishes him all the best for all of his future endeavors.
Do take a look at our interview with Simon Willis: