Australian spin legend Shane Warne blasted the defensive tactics employed by the England bowlers against Indian tailenders Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. The duo shared an 89-run partnership for the ninth wicket and turned the match in India's favour. Setting England a target of 272 runs in 60 overs, India won the second Test match at Lord's by 151 runs after dismissing England for 120.
"They're (England cricketers) standing there scratching their heads saying, 'what went wrong?' and what went wrong was horrific tactics," Warne told SEN. "They (England) had five, six, seven fielders on the fence. The bowler is standing at the top of his mark looking around saying, 'how am I going to get some of these guys out? They got a bit too emotional, a bit too much short stuff and in the end the best team won, and that was India," said Warne.
Former England coach David Lloyd said it looked as if England had lost the plot. "(England) just seemed intent on knocking lumps off (Bumrah) rather than getting him out... it looked as if England had lost the plot," he was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
After England managed to send Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma back to the pavilion within the first eight overs of the day, they seemed clueless about getting Bumrah and Shami out. As a result, the two tailenders remained not out when India declared their innings at 298-8.
Mark Wood and the other pacers then peppered the tailenders with bouncers, which proved counterproductive, said Warne. The Bumrah-Shami pair withstood the short-ball onslaught and then changed the course of the match with an 89-run stand, ruining England's chances of a win.
However, Root denied England had used the short stuff as revenge to Bumrah's barrage in both their innings.
"Fair play to Virat (Kohli) and his team. They jumped on to something that emotionally gave them an edge. I think a lot falls on my shoulders as captain." Tactically I could have done things slightly differently," said Root.
"The (Shami and Bumrah partnership) was the pivotal moment of the game, without question, and I don't think I dealt with that well enough tactically. It put us in a difficult position. Looking back, I'd look at some of the field placings and the way that we bowled. We could have looked at maybe attacking the stumps a little bit more frequently and using the short ball as more of a surprise.
"We have to give them some credit. They scored in unusual areas and made it hard to set conventional fields and (we) were trying to manage taking wickets but not letting the game get away from us. But I would have taken a little bit more time and probably brought more modes of dismissal into the game sooner."
(With IANS Inputs)
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