Former England spinner Monty Panesar heaped praises on the Ben Stokes-led side after the Three Lions side achieved a fantastic victory in the IND vs ENG 1st Test. Panesar, speaking to news agency ANI, asserted that if England batter Ollie Pope and spinner Tom Hartley maintained their form in the IND vs ENG series, England can whitewash India in their own backyard. The former spinner also said Rohit Sharma appeared clueless in the match.
Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley played a major role in England’s turnaround in the first Test after they initially trailed by 190 runs after the first innings. Ollie Pope scored a brilliant 194 in England’s second innings while Hartley took a 7-fer to ensure India fell short of their target.
5-0 to England: Panesar
Speaking to ANI, Monty Panesar said, “If Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley continue to play like this it will be a whitewash, it will be 5-0 for England. It can happen if Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley play like this.”
“Ollie Pope had a brilliant innings, one of the best innings we have seen in a long time and Rohit Sharma was clueless. India need to stop giving the freedom that the England players are getting. If Virat Kohli was playing he would have been in the faces of these England players and told them ‘Hey, do it again let’s see how good you are’. This is an England team who are not scared of losing, they are not scared to lose,” Panesar added.
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