During the 13th over of the game, Tom Hartley bowled a drifting delivery to Shubman Gill on the stump line as the batter played outside the line of the ball.
There is something about England and their accusations. Every time they tour India, the journalists and players have excuses ready to churn out, and a fresh tour is no different. Despite the pitch being fairly pleasant for batting, a few English commentators, fans and players have raised questions about the quality of the pitch and the DRS.
Kevin Pietersen complained about the pitch earlier, stating it looks like a Day 3 pitch. All the blame game was bound to roll out after England’s mediocre but expected batting performance after winning the toss. Their unnecessary attacking intent with faulty technique led to an all-out on a below-par score of 246, which Ben Duckett felt was above-par for some reason.
The shot selection of a few of England’s premium batters was avoidable. Ollie Pope played on the front foot with hard hands on a delivery he should have stayed behind to tackle. Joe Root went for a premeditated sweep off a ball shorter in length to top-edge it straight to the fine-leg fielder.
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Unfortunately, the English players are not skilled enough to counter skilled Indian spinners even on a track not turning excessively, barring a few odd ones. No wonder Duckett was happy with the score; it’s hard to score too many with such technique against a class bowling lineup like India.
“We are very happy being bowled out for what we got. Hopefully, we can take two or three wickets early [on day two] and put them under pressure. We’re in a strong position, regardless of them only being one down,” said Duckett.
During the 13th over of the game, Tom Hartley bowled a drifting delivery to Shubman Gill on the stump line as the batter played outside the line of the ball. It hit high on Gill’s pads, and England’s players appealed their hearts out. The umpire was unmoved, compelling England to use their last review only to find the ball above the stumps during the tracking.
Ben Duckett expressed his shock at the DRS, for he felt it was plumb, as they mostly feel. The statement is not surprising since Duckett also felt the track was spinning excessively on the first day. They malign everything not going their way, like the DRS and pitch on the opening day.
“It feels like a tricky pitch to start on. Shubman there, we could have had him there. It looked like a dead LBW [when he was struck on the pad by Tom Hartley on 1,] and somehow, it’s bouncing over the stumps. It’s one of those things. We’ll stick to our mantra, and that’s taking wickets and looking to be positive. Hopefully, that will happen for us as well,” exclaimed Duckett following the close of the first day’s play.
While Duckett acted perplexed, the DRS showing the ball missing the stumps was fair. Tom Hartley is a tall bowler with a high-arm release, and Gill, a tall batter, took a giant stride forward, saving the batter. However, Duckett didn’t miss his chance to blame the DRS, which is hard to manipulate unless a different ball is shown for tracking.
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