Former Australia cricketers Brad Haddin and Tim Paine tore into the England captain Ben Stokes for his comments that the 1-3 scoreline does not reflect how close it has been in the ongoing five-match series.
IND vs ENG: 5th Test, Day 2 – LIVE
India have an unassailable 3-1 lead by winning the fourth test by five wickets. England had won the first test in Hyderabad by 28 runs. India responded by winning the second test in Visakhapatnam by 106 runs, and then the third test in Rajkot by 434 runs.
Brad Haddin lauded Stokes for marshalling his young spinners but clairified that India are playing the series without their top stars.
“It sounded like a thinly veiled sledge, didn’t it? You can’t fault Ben Stokes because he has been magnificent tactically in this series. England have got a very young spin attack in tough conditions in the sub-continent but young Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir have been fantastic and Ben Stokes deserves a lot of credit for that,” Haddin told Around The Wicket.
“But he has been playing against the Indian B team because there has been no Kohli, no Shami, Bumrah got rested last Test, KL Rahul is out and Rishabh Pant is still making his way back from that accident. They are not their strongest team but it just goes to show that the depth in Indian cricket is huge because there are some big names coming into this next era of Indian cricket. Jaiswal is leading the charge; young Jurel was magnificent in the last Test as well. So India are looking very strong.”
India are without Virat Kohli, who took time out to be with his family for the birth of his second child, along with the likes of Mohammed Shami, who is recovering from an injury. Youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel stepped up in the absence of some of the seniors.
Paine said he knowsa a thing or two about losing to an Indian side sans stars as his Australian side lost the 2020-21 Border-Gavsakat series 1-2 despite winning the first Test.
“I totally agree with him and I know what it’s like to be beaten by an Indian B team. Unfortunately, it happened to us on our home soil. But yes, some huge names out for India, which should have certainly helped the English. I thoroughly enjoy watching England play the game, I love the way they are going about it. I love watching them lose. Don’t get me wrong but they are entertaining and exciting. They have been for Test cricket,” Paine added.
Comments
0 comment