India came into this third Test match on the back of a historic win at Lord’s. But, the tourists ended up disappointing everyone with their batting disaster and sub-par bowling. Indian skipper Virat Kohli was also criticized heavily for his bowling choices in Leeds.
Experts had talked about opening the bowling with Ishant Sharma as probably a wrong call as the pacer bowled a lot of freebies and was seen struggling against Joe Root and thus bowled short spells which led to speculations regarding his fitness.
But, the Delhi-based pacer’s teammate Mohammad Shami clarified the team’s intention behind them bowling short spells by saying, “As we were fielding for long periods, the captain wanted to give shorter spells of three, four overs. It's not always possible to maintain a spell of eight or nine overs.”
“It [Bowling longer spells] depends on the situation and rhythm of the bowler. The captain needs to look at which bowlers need to recover and whom to give the short or long spell to. If you've noticed, you'd see that Ishant began the day and completed the last spell for us. There are no doubts over his fitness,” Shami added during his virtual media interaction.
With England looking in a really good position as they have already secured a 345-run lead in their first innings after bowling India out for just 78 runs, a lot of fans feel the match will end in the series being leveled 1-1.
30-year-old Shami however feels there is no need to panic as the team is still leading in this five-match Test series and believes in the skillset players possess.
“It happens sometimes. There is no need to feel low or get affected mentally because two Tests still remain. We are still 1-0 up, so there is no need to panic. We just need to believe in our skill, and back ourselves,” the right-arm quick concluded.
England ended Day 3 with 423-8 and with tail-enders Craig Overton (24) and Ollie Robinson (0) at the crease.
