As Paul Collingwood fielded questions from the media ahead of Monday’s ODI against India, one could get enough hints about why the visitors looked so out of sorts in Rajkot, or right from the Stanford Twenty20 match in West Indies last month. There may just be too many things going on off the field for them to focus on matters at hand.

The England all-rounder was alternately asked two types of question: related to the match and, invariably by the British press, regarding not signing central contract with the ECB and their negotiations over playing in the IPL.

“We have been in that situation before,” Collingwood said of being one-down in the series. “I am confident we’ll bounce back from it. We just have to stop India. We need to be more aggressive. The key is to take early wickets and put India under pressure. They’re very much like any other team. We did not get into a situation from where we could get on top of them.”

T20 no distraction

When asked directly if the team was being affected by the off the field issues and Twenty20, he replied in the negative.

“I would love to play in the IPL, which is huge, if a clear window is open. For me wearing the England shirt is most important. It’s also the other players’ point of view. It’s up to the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and the BCCI to sort out,” he said.

“As regards Twenty20 and Stanford series affecting us, I thing that is not an issue. It’s hasn’t. Ours in a close-knit team. The morale is very high. We will definitely bounce back in this series,” he said.

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