England have lost four wickets early on Day 4.
Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Farokh Engineer slammed the England players during the ongoing ENG vs IND third Test at the iconic Lord’s Stadium. The former player felt that the English batters can play in a fast-paced approach, commonly known as ‘Bazball,’ only while competing against some of the below-ranked teams.
“They can do Bazball against Bangladesh or Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Against India, they cannot do that. I have always said that in the past. I wish they had adopted Bazball, we would have won the series by now,” he opined.
He also took a dig at England’s opener Zak Crawley for deliberately wasting time in the final few minutes of the game on Day 3. The batter also got involved in a verbal confrontation with the newly appointed India captain, Shubman Gill. However, after putting in all the efforts and tactics, England successfully avoided playing the second over before the stumps of an enthralling third day.
“English people will call it professionalism but I would call it cheating. That was timewasting tactics. They did not want to face another over which was very obvious. He could have been discrete about it but he made it look so obvious,” added the former keeper.
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The star pair of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant started Day 3 brilliantly as they guided India from 145 to 247 without loss. But the sudden run-out of Pant in the final over before the lunch break shifted the momentum towards the English dugout. Though Rahul brought up his second century at the prestigious venue, he could not continue to make it a big one. He got out at 100.
Later, a crucial 72-run partnership between Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja, followed by a 23-run contribution from all-rounder Washington Sundar, helped India level the first innings scores at 387. England faced just an opening over from the ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah and added two runs to the scoreboard before finishing off the day. India wanted to hurry and bowl a second over, but couldn’t because of the drama that followed.
Following the heated verbal exchanges of Day 3, the Indian bowling lineup started the penultimate day with a similar form of play. Mohammed Siraj struck twice to remove opener Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope. Youngster Nitish Kumar Reddy and the last fixture’s hero, Akash Deep, dismissed Crawley and Harry Brook, respectively. At the time of writing, England are at 125/4, with Joe Root and skipper Ben Stokes at the crease.
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