England cricket legend Geoffrey Boycott has shared his thoughts on the ongoing Test series between India and England. The visitors stunned the home side in Hyderabad, pulling off a remarkable victory after India seemed firmly in control for the first two days.
However, some lapses in concentration and a brilliant fightback from Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley allowed England to snatch the win.
Writing for The Daily Telegraph UK, Boycott assessed the game, “This India team are ripe for the taking and England have a golden chance to be the first side to topple them on their own patch for 12 years. India badly miss Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja has a hamstring injury and will not play the second Test.”
Rohit Sharma who got starts in both innings but couldn’t convert them to big scores, Boycott says about the Indian captain, “Rohit Sharma is nearly 37 and past his best. He makes pretty cameos but has scored only two Test hundreds at home in four years. They are also weak in the field. They dropped Ollie Pope on 110 and that cost them 86 runs. It lost them the match.”
Usually sweeps and reverse-sweeps don’t work against Indian spinners, Australian batters tried to do it last year but they failed miserably. However, there was a distinct difference in how England batters applied sweeps. For English batter, it was method of confidence and dominance.
“England bamboozled India with their sweeps and reverse sweeps and to lose after taking a 190-run lead will be mind-blowing for India,” Boycott added.
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One of the biggest stories of the game was Tom Hartley’s debut. Having been hit for a six on the very first ball test career debut, it looked to uphill task for the young debutant. Credit goes to Ben Stokes for trusting Hartley regardless of what happened in the first innings.
With a 7-fer in the second innings, Hartley became a hero for England. This is truly commendable not for an individual but for entire team. To keep believing and manifesting things when a slightest opportunity comes to the scene.
Talking about Hartley, Boycott said, “Second innings gave him the chance of redemption. An opportunity to bowl on a raging turner with the Indian batsmen now under pressure.”
“Pressure does funny things to people. Hartley got a couple of early wickets, which raised his confidence, and he was able to have the best moment of his cricketing career.”
