Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has criticised Indian captain Rohit Sharma for not deploying spin earlier in England’s first innings after the visitors made a strong start against the Indian seamers on the first day of the match in Hyderabad.
However, the introduction of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja proved to be a game-changer for the Men in Blue against the Ben Stokes-led team.
Batting first, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley seemed to have no trouble facing the Indian bowling attack as they accumulated 55 runs for the first wicket. Duckett, in particular, appeared to be very aggressive against Indian pacers and spinners early in the innings, before Ashwin broke through by sending Duckett back to the pavilion.
Speaking on Espncricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out how England’s openers scored significant runs before being tested by spin bowling, and he also mentioned that Ben Stokes made a similar mistake by giving the ball to an untested Tom Hartley instead of Jack Leach and Joe Root later in the day.
“I like to see ruthless captaincy, and Rohit Sharma bowling eight overs of seam and 41 runs on the board before the first ball of spin was bowled wasn’t ruthless captaincy. In the same way.
“Ben Stokes giving the ball to somebody like Tom Hartley. If you had to go with spin with Yashasvi Jaiswal there as a danger player, he could have started off with Jack Leach, the more experienced spinner, and somebody like Joe Root,” Sanjay Manjrekar said.
Ben Stokes played a captain’s knock, scoring 70 runs off 88 deliveries. However, his innings ended with a brilliant delivery from Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma failed to capitalize on a promising start, being dismissed after scoring 24 runs off 27 deliveries.
I’m Impressed And Excited With The Possibilities After Seeing This Performance From England – Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar expressed his satisfaction with England’s batting performance in the first innings of the Hyderabad Test. He emphasized how the visitors managed to compile a respectable total despite senior batsman Joe Root failing to score much in the 1st innings.
“The way England batted and the score that they put up—now Yashasvi Jaiswal has made that score, at the moment, look inadequate.
“But a team batting first on a pitch like this and considering that people like Joe Root failed, that they reached 246, was I thought was a very, very good effort. I’m impressed and excited with the possibilities after seeing this performance from England,” Sanjay Manjrekar added.
England openers Ben Duckett and Jack Crawley put on a 55-run stand after Stokes won the toss before losing wickets in groups. While Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow had a 50-run partnership, the captain’s contribution of 70 was particularly noteworthy as he led England to 246 and the team will be hopeful of putting up a better show with the bat in the 2nd innings