Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting questioned Shubman Gill’s captaincy after the second day of the fourth Test between India and England at Old Trafford on Thursday. Ponting reckons debutant Anshul Kamboj should not have been given the new ball by Gill alongside Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah started with a maiden, but Kamboj conceded 12 runs in his maiden over in the red-ball version. The Haryana fast bowler was taken off the attack by Shubman Gill after bowling three overs.
England raced to 77-0 in 14 overs before the tea break and ended the day at 225-2 after 46 overs, scoring at 4.89. The England openers – Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley – added 166 runs for the opening alliance to put the home team in a commanding position.
Ricky Ponting said on Sky Sports Cricket, “I think they were tactically off as well. Kamboj shouldn’t have taken the new ball. I didn’t like that from the start. Five of Duckett’s first six boundaries were behind square leg, so tactically they were wrong. I think Bumrah is bowling from the wrong end. Most of the wickets have fallen from the Statham end and he’s done most of his work bowling from the Anderson end.”
Indian bowlers were poor in executing their line and length and they were taken to cleaners by Duckett and Crawley, who scored 94 and 88 respectively. Former England veteran fast bowler Stuart Broad slammed India’s bowling efforts on the second day’s play.
Broad said, “Really poor. When your batters get you a score that is slightly above par in the conditions they had to bat in, you’ve got a responsibility as a bowling group to put the opposition team under pressure. The amount of balls down the leg side, Duckett could just clip it. It was unacceptable at Test match level. You see that at lower levels. I don’t think he [Duckett] he had to work particularly hard for his runs.”
Currently, England are in front and India would need quick wickets on the third day’s play.
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