 "England's bowling 'was massacred' by inexperienced Indian batters in Rajkot: Sanjay Manjrekar")
The England attack was “massacred” by a relatively-inexperienced Indian batting lineup during their record 434-run hammering in the third Test at Rajkot, felt cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar.
The former India batter, speaking on ESPNCricinfo, added that the bowling department remained a major worry for the Englishmen heading into the last two matches of the five-Test series, which take place in Ranchi and Dharamsala respectively.
“I respect England’s approach and they are doing the world of Test cricket a great good, not just the team. But the worry for them going into the next 2 Tests is the bowling attack. The big takeaway on Day 4 was how their bowling was massacred by young Indian batters with hardly any Test experience,” Manjrekar said after England suffered their second-heaviest Test defeat ever in terms of runs.
India had posted 400-plus totals in both innings (445 and 430/4) while England threw away a Ben Duckett-inspired solid start on Day 2 to get bundled out for 319 in their first innings, conceding a 126-run first innings lead. They were even more hapless after being set a near-impossible 557 to win, getting bowled out for a paltry 122 with Ravindra Jadeja leading the way with a haul of 5/41.
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Manjrekar added that while the English spin department had done well in the first two Tests, with left-arm spinner Tom Hartley collecting 7/62 on debut to guide his team to a stunning 28-run victory in Hyderabad, their inexperience would eventually catch up later in the series and would result in a struggle to dismiss the Indian batters.
“Felt at the end of the 2nd Test the biggest problem England will face will be with their inexperienced spinners, who have done phenomenally well. But just too much of a burden to carry for these young shoulders with hardly any first-class experience. And that side of English cricket I don’t see anything dramatic happening, don’t see them suddenly getting India 150 all-out. Don’t see their spinners doing that and can’t see India giving them rank turners that other opposition teams have got,” Manjrekar added.
Impact Shorts
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The two sides meet in the fourth of five Tests at Ranchi’s JSCA Stadium starting Friday, 23 February, where the Rohit Sharma-led hosts will be solid favourites to pull off a series-clinching victory. They had earlier bounced back from the Hyderabad defeat with a 106-run victory in Visakhapatnam before dishing out an even more ruthless display in Rajkot.
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