ENG vs IND 2018: Kumar Sangakkara defends Murali Vijay’s failures at Lord’s

Murali Vijay scored ducks in both innings at Lord's.

Sangakkara has defended Murali Vijay. (Getty)

Former Sri Lanka Captain and legend Kumar Sangakkara has come out in defense of Indian batsmen for their failures at the Home of Cricket in the second Test match. Sangakkara doesn't like some of the harsh criticism that is going around of the likes of Murali Vijay & co and believes there is a need for some sense of perspective to this situation. 

Indian batsmen have struggled in tough conditions against the excellence of James Anderson and Stuart Broad and Sangakkara reiterated the point. 

“I don’t blame him at all. He’s seen the ball swing away and take his off stump (in the first innings), it was an absolute peach. He’s seen the ball swing like that, so he covers the outside edge and it knicks off the inside edge,” said Sanga on Sky Sports and added, “It is a tough life for a batsman out there. Jimmy has been fantastic but you can see the doubt in the batsman’s mind, he just doesn’t know where the ball is going, he hedges his bets and unfortunately, the ball is just too good. Maybe because of the wet outfield and constant drizzle the ball hasn’t swung as much in the air but every time the seam hit and it was getting slightly damper, it kept jagging back in,”

Sangakkara also opined that England possibly declared a bit late. Although it didn't matter in the end as they won the game by an innings and 159 runs, there was slight criticism of them for batting early morning on Day 4 instead of declaring overnight. 

“It is a bit of balance. England would have wanted to make sure there was no chance of batting again, so wanted the comfort of an extra few runs. I like that they came out there and attacked, it was not just sitting around and getting singles," and added, "They would have also trusted their radar, they are a lot more accurate in this part of the world. They would have seen some the weather around and made their decision. It might come back to haunt them if it rains a lot. In Colombo, if it rains you know the day is done. You’ve shut the studio down and you’re playing cards somewhere,”

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 13 Aug, 2018

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