Former England captain Andrew Strauss is worried about the impact of the loss at the Lord’s in the second Test against India, saying the massive defeat will hurt the “bruised and battered” hosts in the remainder of the ongoing five-match Test series at home.
He further pointed out that England were going into Day 5 as slight favorites to wrap up the second Test, but sadly things changed quickly, thanks to Team India’s lower order contribution, especially Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
Then, the Indian bowlers got the better of the under-pressure English batters and bowled out them for just 120 to win the second Test by 151 runs at Lord’s and the former England captain said the tourists were exceptional and deserved to win the thriller on Monday, August 16.
Well, Strauss was particularly concerned about England’s batting woes and called for a change in England's top-order after their disappointing show in the first two Test, but feels it will be difficult for the hosts to make a comeback against a “spirited” Indian team in the remaining Test matches.
Strauss told Sky Sports: “They were favorites but let things slip before lunch (on final day) and then had another top-order collapse. Those early wickets put huge pressure on the middle order and India just had enough overs to bowl them out. It was feisty.”
Praising Virat Kohli and India, he said: “Every series with India, and particularly (Virat) Kohli, is feisty and as the match was on the line you expected nothing else. It has been five brilliant days of Test cricket.”
He continued, “India were exceptional and there were times when England looked like they were going to get out of jail but, in the end, you have to say that India deserved it, they did enough to win. England is going to be absolutely battered and bruised as a result of that.”
Meanwhile, England openers Dom Sibley and Rory Burns are woefully out-of-form and Strauss feels England should replace Sibley with Ollie Pope in the third Test at Headingley.
He further explained, “At some stage, if you keep being two or three down for nothing, it’s going to come back to haunt you. Yes, they were two good balls to get rid of Burns and Sibley but, of course, then Joe Root is under pressure, (Haseeb) Hameed is under pressure, and then Jonny Bairstow and the middle order as well. You just can’t keep doing that time after time. I think it might be time to bring Sibley out of the firing line. He has looked out of touch.
Strauss signed off by saying, “I think Ollie Pope is probably going to come back in, who has been in and around the squad but is it right for him to be batting in the top three? It is not an easy solution. There are a lot of problems for England, no doubt about that. If they had got away with it again, we might have been able to paper over the cracks but not anymore.”
(With PTI Inputs)
