Having seen England collapse to a 161 all-out despite a very fine start of 54/0 on Day 2 of the third Test at Trent Bridge against India, a disappointed Michael Vaughan has said that it was a poor batting performance from the home side and they deserve to be in the hopeless situation they now find themselves in.
After a good start from Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings, England seemed to have no answer to some terrific swing and seam bowling from Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya and on the back of later's maiden five wicket haul 5/28, India were able to take a lead of 168. They then stretched it to 292 with the bat and finished Day 2 in a match-winning position.
"Having to fight for a few overs or a session... England's mindset can't seem to cope with that," said Vaughan to BBC Test Match Special, "When it does a bit or when the game is going against them, they find it difficult. The top order got a good start today, they were 54-0, then there were two wickets in two balls and you close the curtains and hide."
"I said I was looking forward to seeing how England batted once the opposition had a score on the board, It's been an issue for the Test team for a while now. Yes, they weren't ideal conditions for batting but they made the same mistakes they have made consistently for a number of years. I am learning nothing about the Test team in this series. Absolutely nothing." he added.
Vaughan also thinks that in wake off India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, not bowling due to a hip injury, England could've made it a lot tougher for the opposition.
"Streetwise cricketers would have seen [Ravichandran] Ashwin was injured and would have struggled to bowl. Let's see off [Mohammed] Shami and Ishant [Sharma] and take them into another session because they don't have a spinner," he said and added, "This is England's deepest batting line-up but the collapse doesn't surprise me because of the way that they play. As soon as they are under pressure and there is a little bit there in the pitch they have so much fragility. They have so much talent but the collapses are happening on a regular basis now."
