Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar believes that England can only have a chance to make a comeback in the ongoing Pink-ball Test if they manage to get Rohit Sharma out early on Day 2.
The first day of play didn’t turn out to be good for England. Axar Patel’s lethal spell of 21.4-6-38-6 completely demolished the visitors as they were bowled put for a paltry total of 112. India then rode on Rohit’s unbeaten 57 to finish the day on a score of 99/3.
According to Gavaskar, if England don’t manage to dismiss Rohit early on Day 2, then his runs could turn out to be the deciding factor in this match.
“He (Rohit) knows how to play, how to pace his innings. That’s what he is going to try to do. And he is the kind of player who can’t be put under any pressure. He can play through the off-side, play through the on-side and he is such a difficult batsman to keep quiet,” Gavaskar told Star Sports after the match.
“He will be scoring all the time. When the opposition has got only 112, they can’t let him get off to a start (on Thursday).
“They need his wicket more than anybody else’s wicket. If they get him out early tomorrow, they are in with a chance. That’s why Rohit is going to be crucial to this match from tomorrow onwards.
“The way Rohit Sharma is batting, the confidence that Ajinkya Rahane is showing, there was no night watchman after the last wicket of the day fell, that shows India are pretty confident of overhauling England’s total and get a substantial lead to make sure they don’t have to bat in the fourth innings. Even if they have to, maybe for not too many runs,” he added.
England eventually got Virat Kohli dismissed for 27 but they had dropped him on 24 once and that could have been a huge talking point of the game if Kohli would have gone on to score big. However, the Indian skipper couldn’t capitalize on the life given as he chopped one from Jack Leach on to his stumps.
“He didn’t trouble the England bowlers after that escape (dropped chance of Anderson). That is something that England will be happy about. If India had to go close of play with just two wickets down with Virat Kohli batting on 30 and Rohit Sharma batting on fifty-odd, that would have meant the England team would have had a sleepless night.
“Now they are in with a chance, Ajinkya Rahane is new to the crease, they have got the rock Cheteshwar Pujara for 0. Clearly, England will say to themselves that if we bowl well and take our catches, then we can restrict India to a reasonable total,” Gavaskar said.
