England batsmen are having a tough time in the ongoing Test series against India at home. Expect for skipper Joe Root (64 and 109), none of the batsmen managed to touch the 40-run mark in the drawn first Test at Trent Bridge while the story was somewhat similar in the second game at Lord’s, which the hosts lost by 151 runs.
Root and company had to bat less than two sessions to save the Lord’s Test but they failed to do so as India’s pace-quartet demolished the English batting line-up, bowling them out for 120 in 51.5 overs.
Captain Root was the lone warrior in the second Test as well, scoring 180 not and 33 across the two innings.
Trailing 1-0 in the five-Test series, England have made several changes to their squad for the third Test at Headingley. The likes of Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley have been axed while Dawid Malan has received a recall after three years.
Ahead of the third Test, former India cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has opined that this English side lacks quality in its batting department.
According to Chopra, batsmen apart from Joe Root are just making up the numbers.
“There are so many options but this English team is more about quantity, not about quality. The quality is there in just one player, among the batsmen, and he is Joe Root. The rest of them in Test-match cricket, they are just adding up the numbers at this point in time against India's fantastic bowling attack,” he said in a video posted on his Youtube channel.
“This is the reality, hate it or like it. The job this bowling attack has done, the opposition team has fallen slightly on their knees in the batting department definitely,” he added.
Aakash Chopra further pointed out that Sibley’s poor run forced the hosts to bring in Malan while he feels the home team may go with a pace heavy attack at Headingley.
“Sibley and Crawley, both have been dropped. Dawid Malan and Saqib Mahmood have been called back into the team. Saqib did really well against Pakistan. He was a part of the squad for the second match, he was then released but now because of Wood's injury, he has been called. There is a possibility, the match is in Headingley, you might want to just spruce up your fast-bowling reserves,” Chopra said.
“Malan, yes he is a T20 champion. Malan's story is that Dom Sibley has been struggling. It seems Haseeb Hameed will open and in the middle, you can play Malan or Ollie Pope, you can also send Bairstow at No.3,” he further remarked.
