England assistant coach Paul Collingwood showered rich praise on Sarfaraz Khan, who made an impressive debut with a brisk knock of 62 runs off 66 balls in the ongoing third Test in Rajkot.
Sarfaraz's aggressive approach helped Team India post 326/5 on the board on Day 1 of the ongoing third Test against England in Rajkot on Thursday, February 15.
Well, Collingwood was impressed by Sarfaraz's courage in adopting such an attacking style on his debut and even against the aggressive England side. Notably, the right-handed batter smashed his maiden Test fifty off just 48 balls, and his impactful performance earned him praise from one and all.
Paul Collingwood told media after the stumps: “He came out and batted really well. We kept attacking fields to him. He likes to be a strokemaker and play his shots. I thought Ben (Stokes) wanted to keep attacking fields so we could create a chance. And fair play to him (Sarfaraz), he had the courage to go over the top on a few occasions.”
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The England coach continued, “He sweeps really well and puts the bowlers under pressure. On debut, it takes a lot of courage to come out and play like that. I guess from his point of view, it was a shame to get run out the way he did. You can see why he has got a pretty good first-class average — he looks a decent player.”
Collingwood further credited Indian batters for giving tough times to England bowlers despite having a great start to the third Test in Rajkot. He stated: “It was a great start, there was a bit of movement around this morning, it seemed a bit cooler, a bit of moisture on the ground so the ball nipped around a bit. Jimmy and Woody were exceptional. As the ball gets softer, it's doing less.”
The coach added, “The spinners toiled away all day with little reward but when you've got quality batters like they have in the India team, they're always going to get a response. The two guys who got hundreds and Sarfaraz at the end played exceptionally well. We threw everything at them, in terms of plans and field positions.”
Collingwood signed off by saying on the mood of England camp, “The mood's very upbeat. It doesn't generally change no matter what day we have. We all realize that however many runs India gets, we're going to go out there pretty positively with the bat. If we have to chase runs on this pitch, it's a very fast outfield and we're good at chasing.”
(With PTI Inputs)
