After dawdling to make a 358-run total across six sessions of play, India saw their toil being reduced to only a 133-run deficit on Thursday when England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett marched forward with a rapid partnership at Old Trafford. Led by the rollicking start, courtesy of a poor bowling display by India’s pacers, England waltzed to 225 for two in only 46 overs. Leading pundits Ricky Ponting and Nasser Hussain slammed captain Shubman Gill for throwing debutant seamer Anshul Kamboj into the deep end early with the new ball alongside Jasprit Bumrah.
Taking the fresh Dukes ball from the James Anderson End ahead of Mohammed Siraj, Kamboj conceded three boundaries in his first over and was taken out of the attack after only three overs into the spell while giving away 17 runs. Ponting criticised India’s tactics to hand Kamboj the new ball while also Bumrah from the wrong end.
“I think they were tactically off as well. Kamboj shouldn’t have taken the new ball. I didn’t like that from the start. Five of Duckett’s first six boundaries were behind square leg, so tactically they were wrong. I think Bumrah is bowling from the wrong end. Most of the wickets have fallen from the Statham end and he’s done most of his work bowling from the Anderson end,” said Ponting on Sky Sports.
Former England skipper Hussain also slammed India’s overall day with the ball as Kamboj, Siraj and Shardul Thakur were profligate in their figures. While Kamboj did have a reprieve later on, dismissing Ben Duckett on 94 for his maiden Test wicket, England had surged far ahead by then after the openers put on 166 in only 32 overs for the first wicket.
“They bowled really poorly. Change in overhead conditions doesn’t make you bowl both sides of the wicket. Too many balls on the pads, not enough in that channel. Captain’s decisions I didn’t quite agree with, to be honest. Kamboj wasn’t in the squad a week ago. He wasn’t in the team. To bring him into the squad, bring him into the team and give him the new ball ahead of Siraj seems odd.
“I would have gone Siraj for a short burst that end and then switch him to this end to follow Bumrah. So, everything that could possibly go wrong in 14 overs has,” remarked Hussain.
‘Unacceptable at Test-match level
Former England seamer Stuart Broad slammed India’s overall day on the field, calling it an “unacceptable” performance at the international level.
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“Really poor. When your batters get you a score that is slightly above par in the conditions they had to bat in, you’ve got a responsibility as a bowling group to put the opposition team under pressure. The amount of balls down the leg side, Duckett could just clip it. It was unacceptable at Test match level. You see that at lower levels. I don’t think he [Duckett] he had to work particularly hard for his runs,” said Broad.
