England skipper Joe Root was disappointed after his team lost the third Test match by 10 wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday. The Test match was wrapped up within two days as both the teams failed to show any kind of resistance with the bat. England was skittled out for a paltry score of 81 runs in the second innings and thus gave a target of meager 49 runs to the hosts.
In fact, the visitors were 74-2 in the first innings but they lost eight wickets for 38 runs and were bundled out for an ordinary score of 112 runs. England did bounce back into the match as they dismissed India for 145 runs in the first innings but the tourists were bundled out for 81 runs in the second essay.
The England batsmen failed to show any kind of resistance throughout the game as they couldn’t get going. Zak Crawley scored a fifty in the first innings but apart from him none of the batsmen were able to stay longer at the crease. The visitors failed to keep Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin at bay – both of whom took a total of 18 wickets in the match.
In fact, 21 out of the 30 wickets were taken on straight balls. Furthermore, England batsmen didn’t look mentally ready for the challenging conditions of the pitch.
Joe Root said in the post-match presentation, “We were 70 for 2. But we didn’t really capitalize on it. 250 on that wicket would have made it different. We will come back using this hurt and come back as a better team. The plastic coating on the ball gathered pace off the wicket. It was high-quality bowling as well. Both sides struggled on that wicket. We don’t define ourselves on a performance like this. We shouldn’t have any baggage from the previous games going into the last game. We have seen with the ball in hand, we can pick up wickets. I think it sums up the wicket if I am getting a fifer”.
India came up with a fine performance in the third Test match as their spinners were right on the money. Axar Patel bagged 11 wickets in the series and scalped a five-wicket haul in each of the innings. Moreover, Ravichandran Ashwin took seven wickets in the match and also completed 400 Test wickets.
England batsmen will need to come up with better plans against the Indian spinners and they haven’t been able to do the job. The Joe Root-led team is also out of the race for the final of the ICC Test Championship.
The fourth Test match will take place at the same venue of Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad from March 4.
