England’s ‘Bazball’ saw an epic collapse as the visitors got bowled for 319 on Day 3 of the India vs England third Test in Rajkot on Saturday.
England were cruising on the back of Ben Duckett’s blazing ton at 224/2 when Root played a bizarre shot against Jasprit Bumrah which opened the gates for India. The hosts then kept on chipping wickets and wrapped the visitors post lunch for 319, taking a lead of 126 in the first innings.
BBC Sport senior journalist, Jonathan Agnew tear apart England’s approach and said that the Ben Stokes-led side have failed ‘spectacularly’.
“England have chucked it away. Test cricket is played over a long five days. You have to be tactically flexible and apply common sense, according to the match situation. England have failed spectacularly”, Agnew said.
Bazball fizzles on Day 3
England lost 8 wickets for 95 runs in the first two sessions and gave India a big lead on a pitch which has started to slow down. Notably, India were without their spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin who withdrew from the remainder of the game due to a family emergency.
However, despite playing with one bowler shot, Indian bowlers stepped up and chipped in with crucial wickets to give India an advantage in the game.
Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the bowlers with 4-wicket haul. While Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja grabbed two wickets each. Ashwin and Bumrah registered one wicket apiece to their names.
Editors pick
