Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes that Indian captain Virat Kohli used spinner Ravindra Jadeja “cleverly” on the fifth and final day, whereas Joe Root failed to do the same with Moeen Ali on day four and that’s one of the biggest reasons behind India's Oval Test win.
After massive defeat in the third Test, the Indian cricket team made a stunning comeback in the fourth Test, as they thrashed England by 157 runs in the fourth Test to record their first win at The Oval on Monday (September 6) after 1971 to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match Test series.
Defending 368 runs, Indian bowlers didn’t give a single chance to recover England on day five once they punched a hole in the hosts’ batting line-up to restrict them to 210 on Monday at The Oval, where Jadeja returned with four wickets – 2 in each innings.
Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail: “Kohli used Jadeja cleverly — in a way that Root failed to do with Moeen Ali on the fourth day. By keeping his spinner on at one end, India’s captain could rotate the quicks at the other, using them in short, sharp bursts and keeping them fresh.”
On England skipper Root, the commentator added, “By ignoring Moeen, Root ended up bowling his seamers into the ground, with possible consequences for the fifth Test at Old Trafford.”
Lauding Jadeja for his stunning bowling, the Englishman said: “Jadeja performed another important function too, aside from the important wickets of Haseeb Hameed and Moeen. He was landing it in the rough outside the right-hander’s leg stump, which created the conditions for reverse-swing because it allowed them to keep one side rough and the other side smooth.”
However, Hussain wasn’t too critical of England’s batting, as the Indian bowlers were irresistible once they got the ball moving on the last afternoon, especially Jasprit Bumrah was devastating.
The former skipper added, “I can’t be too critical of England’s batting. It does look like another collapse, and in fairness going from 100 without loss to 147 for six does not look too clever. But there are times when you have to give credit to the opposition, and to the bowling of Bumrah in particular. We forget sometimes that the opponents are allowed to play well too.”
He also mentioned that England wasn't ruthless enough while expressing his disappointment over the hosts’ poor fielding, saying their catching was shaky against India.
Hussain signed off by saying, “England, by contrast, just weren’t ruthless enough. Their catching has been shaky for a while now, and they can’t keep having to create 26 chances in each Test because the blokes in the slips are dropping too many. What they’ll have learned from this game is that a lack of ruthlessness earlier in the game can come back to haunt you. The mistakes seem small at the time, but they all add up. It’s up to England to eradicate them.”
(With IANS Inputs)
