Shubman Gill’s captaincy came under the scanner for allowing England batters, Harry Brook and Jamie Smith, to launch a counterattack on the Indian bowlers on Day 3 of the Edgbaston Test.
The Three Lions were in dire straits in the morning session, with Mohammed Siraj removing Joe Root and Ben Stokes in consecutive deliveries in his first over of the day to reduce the hosts to 84/5.
From there, Brook and Smith took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners and propelled England to 249/5 at lunch with an unbroken 165-run stand. They continued their carnage in the post-lunch session, taking England past the 300-run mark.
In the process, Smith slammed the fastest century by an English wicketkeeper and the third-fastest by an Englishman off just 80 balls, while Harry Brook hit his ninth Test hundred.
Speaking on JioHotstar, former India pacer Varun Aaron claimed that India got carried away after the wicket of Ben Stokes.
“I think India allowed this counterpunch by the English batsmen. If you see what worked really well for India last evening and even this morning, it was bowling at the right length. But the moment India got Stokes' wicket, they got a bit too aggressive on a flat wicket," Aaron said.
Aaron said there was no point in bowling this many bouncers, which were punished with brutal pull shots by Smith and Brook.
"Too many bouncers, too many short balls. On a slow pitch, when none of your bowlers are consistently pushing the 145 kph mark, you cannot afford to bowl that many short deliveries. Indian bowlers have the skill to keep it on that ideal length — keep hitting the stumps. Sustained pressure is what gets you wickets. You can't expect things to happen immediately all the time," he added.
Former England batter Jonathan Trott also accused India's young captain Gill of "letting hosts off the hook" after such a brilliant start on Day 3.
“That partnership at the start was very much under pressure, but as soon as India switched to the short-ball tactic, it actually let the English batsmen off the hook. They’re always going to take the short ball on. And once the runs started flowing — as anyone who's watched cricket knows — that’s when the pressure starts to ease, and they can play their natural game. Even if one of them gets caught on the boundary, it’s not a big deal. The next guy will come in and likely do the same thing," Trott said.
Aaron, however, was effusive in praise of Jamie Smith for his swashbuckling ton. “Jamie Smith is a gifted and very brave batter. He’s not hesitating to take on the challenge at all. With almost six to seven fielders packed on the leg side, it takes real courage to play those shots — it shows how much belief he has in his ability and the trust the team has placed in him. He’s a talented player, not just in red-ball cricket but in the white-ball format too. Bright days ahead — but he’ll need to convert this into a daddy hundred.”
At the time of writing, Jamie Smith and Harry Brook were batting on 156* and 131* respectively, with England reaching 347/5 in reply to India’s first innings total of 587.
