Former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara has said that the England cricket team “is not far off being one of the worst one-day teams for a very, very, very long time”. Bopara spoke exclusively to mid-day between England’s two defeats in the ICC Champions Trophy — first to Australia and then Afghanistan. The narrow loss to Afghanistan on Wednesday confirmed England’s elimination from the semi-final race.

“It’s a tough situation for them [England] right now. They are short on wicket-taking bowlers in good conditions for batting. They’re finding it hard to take wickets. Without Adil Rashid, there’s not many nations they can beat. He plays a pivotal role in the middle there. He takes wickets, he contains. Without him, you could be looking at massive scores from the opposition,” said Bopara, 39, at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on the sidelines of the International Masters League where he is a commentator. Afghanistan posted a massive 325-7 on Wednesday and beat England by eight runs.