England opener Zak Crawley on Saturday (February 3) expressed confidence to chase “anything” in the fourth innings despite conceding a significant first-innings lead of 143 runs to India in the ongoing second Test in Vizag.
At the close of play on Day 2, the hosts were 28/0, extending their lead to 171 runs in the second innings.
Crawley’s confidence has some logic behind it as well. Notably, the Three Lions were 190 runs behind in the first innings of the opening Test in Hyderabad but went on to pull off an incredible 28-run victory last week.
Moreover, England easily chased down a stiff target of 378 in the rescheduled fifth Test against India at Edgbaston in 2022 to level the home series.
“We won’t get too far ahead of ourselves, focus on tomorrow morning first, focus on ourselves. That is what we did really well last week.
“If you look at the game as a whole, we looked at one session at a time, even less than that at times. We will do that again and I think that gives us the best chance.
“We believe we can chase anything and we’ve shown that before,” said Crawley, England’s top-scorer in the first innings with a 76 off 78 balls.
The opening batter acknowledged India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliance on Day 2 of the second Test.
Bumrah ran through the English batting line-up with an incredible spell of reverse swing, returning with a six-wicket haul (6/45) to bundle out the tourists for 253.
“Bumrah bowled unbelievably well. It felt like a better wicket than last week batting on it at that point. There wasn’t as much turn. But you have to hold your hand up sometimes and say that’s a fantastic spell in these conditions.”
“Just that reverse. He’s got that pace, the change-ups, he can swing it both ways, but the reverse swing goes a lot later than normal swing. It’s just that little bit harder than normal swing.
“He was getting it to go a long way today and he bowled some cracking deliveries. Yeah, he mixes it up very well so we have to find ways to counteract that and we will strive to do that,” Crawley stated.
Zak Crawley doesn’t see the pitch deteriorating as much as it did in the first Test in Hyderabad.
“I’m not certain to be honest. But I feel like it’s not breaking up like last week. I don’t think it’s going to be like last week where it’ll turn that much. It will obviously turn more than now, that’s always the case here, but I don’t think it’ll be as tricky as it was in the fourth innings for them last week.”
Crawley was gracious in his praise for India opener Yashavi Jaiswal, who slammed a stunning double hundred (209) when no other Indian batter managed to cross the 40-run mark.
“Yeah, unbelievable innings. Seems like a fantastic player. Really big fan of the way he goes about it, he’s really aggressive and it’s obviously going to be a very special knock.
“I mean, no one else got 40 (runs) and you know, there are some good players in that team. Fair play to him. You don’t mind that. You can hold your hand up. We spoke about that in the dressing room yesterday. Sometimes it happens.
“Like Bumrah bowled well today, and Jaiswal played really well yesterday. You know, we’ve done that to sides before so we don’t mind someone coming out and playing like that,” Crawley remarked.
(With PTI Inputs)
