The recent ENG vs IND five-match Test series witnessed some high-octane action with both teams sharing spoils in the end. While England had the edge coming into the final game, India managed to pull off an incredible fightback to salvage a 2-2 series draw. However, despite such thrilling action, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar wasn’t exactly impressed with the standard of cricket being played and labelled the bowling attacks of both teams as weak.
AUSA-W
–
INDA-W
–
AMR
140/3
SVL
139/9
Amaravati Royals beat Simhadri Vizag Lions by 7 wickets
TBW
–
KNK
22/3
SVL
–
BVB
–
ROR
–
KNK
–
SIN-W
171/4
CAM-W
69/7
Singapore Womens beat Cambodia Women by 102 runs
SIN-W
33/2
CAM-W
32/8
Singapore Womens beat Cambodia Women by 8 wickets
ABF
–
BR
–
SKA
–
TKR
–
ABF
–
SLK
–
WDL
61/2
NDT
138/8
West Delhi Lions beat New Delhi Tigers by 15 runs (D/L) method
CDK
–
NDS
–
SDS
–
PD
–
SDSW
–
NDSW
–
SWE
200/5
HUN
198/2
Sweden beat Hungary by 5 wickets
HUN
128/5
NOR
129/1
Norway beat Hungary by 9 wickets
NOR
149/8
SWE
150/8
Sweden beat Norway by 2 wickets
HUN
–
SWE
–
NOR
–
SWE
–
SWE
–
HUN
–
NOR
–
HUN
–
JZ-W
80/5
LL-W
79/3
Jinx Zagreb Women beat Lavender Lionesses Women by 5 wickets
JZ-W
104/5
LL-W
82/4
Jinx Zagreb Women beat Lavender Lionesses Women by 22 runs
JZ-W
87/1
LL-W
86/3
Jinx Zagreb Women beat Lavender Lionesses Women by 9 wickets
JZ-W
–
LL-W
3/1
JZ-W
–
LL-W
–
JZ-W
–
LL-W
–
JZ-W
–
LL-W
–
MID
–
YOR
–
KENT
–
LAN
–
SOM
–
BB
–
NOR
–
SUSS
–
LEI
–
ESS
–
GLAM
–
NOT
–
WOR
–
GLO
–
BAN
–
IND
–
Match Called off
SBSCC
–
RTZ
–
KZK
–
PCR
–
KRMPS
–
NCMI
–
TCC
–
CEC-A
–
SML
127/5
GBM
–
MYW
–
HBT
–
MGD
–
BNB
–
MYW
–
SML
–
MAT
172/6
MUT
173/0
Muscat Thunderers beat Majees Titans by 10 wickets
IAI
90/4
ROS
191/6
RNC
–
YSG
–
IAI
–
MAT
–
ROS
–
MUT
–
SLGR
189/4
SLGY
166/8
SLC Greens beat SLC Greys by 23 runs
AUS
173/8
SA
172/7
Australia beat South Africa by 2 wickets
TRR
–
SOB
–
OVI
–
WEF
–
MAO
–
NOS
–
BIP
–
LOS
–
TRW-W
106/10
SBW-W
109/4
Southern Brave Women beat Trent Rockets Women by 6 wickets
OIW-W
136/5
WFW-W
–
MOW-W
–
NOS-W
–
BIP-W
–
LSW-W
–
MR-A
107/1
ACOM
106/9
Melbourne Renegades Academy beat Australian Capital Territory by 9 wickets
MS-A
231/4
HHA
227/3
Melbourne Stars Academy beat Hobart Hurricanes Academy by 6 wickets
PS
111/10
PSA
114/8
Perth Scorchers Academy beat Pakistan Shaheens by 2 wickets
BANA
186/6
NEP
154/7
Bangladesh A beat Nepal by 32 runs
CHK
–
AS-A
–
NTS
–
HHA
–
PSA
–
BANA
–
MEMA
–
KASS
–
Manjrekar was particularly critical of Jasprit Bumrah, who was limited to playing only three out of the five games owing to workload management. Jasprit Bumrah also registered an unwanted record of conceding over 100 runs in a single innings during the fourth Test at Manchester. The flat pitches also played their part in taking the sting out of both bowling attacks.
Echoing on the same lines, Manjrekar wrote in his column for the Hindustan Times,
“For starters, sorry to burst the bubble, it has to be one of the weakest bowling attacks from both sides that I have seen in a series featuring two main stream teams.”
He added, “The one bowler with great skills and ability had a bizarre approach to playing in this series even before it began, so bowling greatness or excellence was seen very sporadically over 175 hours of Test cricket.”
ALSO READ:
Apart from the Bumrah call, Manjrekar also expressed his discontent over the decision not to use India’s X-factor bowler Kuldeep Yadav in the series. With Bumrah sitting out a couple of games, it was expected that Kuldeep would be given a chance as he is a genuine wicket-taking option. However, Gambhir and the team management preferred to go with their strategy of three all-rounders in order to have more batting depth and sacrificed Kuldeep in the process.
Although the decision eventually paid off as Shubman Gill and Co secured a hard-earned draw, Manjrekar called for the BCCI and the selectors to question such ‘tactical mistakes’ and ‘selection blunders’ so that they are not repeated in the future.
India’s next Test assignment will be a two-match home Test series against West Indies in October followed by another couple of Tests against South Africa in November.
