Michael Vaughan, former England captain, opined that the 157-run loss in the Oval Test has exposed all the deficiencies that the England Test team has, thanks to a battle-hardened Indian team. England was bowled out for 210 in a chase of 368 runs and went 1-2 down with one more Test to go.
Furthermore, Vaughan also added that it was once again clear that the England team needs assistance from the conditions and surface to do something, while slamming their fielding, catching, and then inability to garner anything out of a flat surface, unlike their opponents whose bowling did wonderfully well on the same surface.
"The deficiencies of England's Test team were laid bare this week in batting, bowling, and fielding. They were beaten by battle-hardened opponents who know how to win the key moments, whereas once again it was clear that England need conditions to give them a helping hand. It started with their catching on day one, continued through their batting in the first innings before their bowling was exposed on a flat wicket over the weekend," Vaughan said in his column for The Telegraph.
ENG v IND 2021: Kohli used Jadeja cleverly, but Root failed with Moeen Ali at Oval- Nasser Hussain
Vaughan further added that England lacked a bowler of the caliber of Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah removed Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow in an amazing spell after lunch and along with Ravindra Jadeja’s two wickets, tilted the match in India’s favor.
"With England's attack lacking a pace bowler like Jasprit Bumrah or a mystery spinner, they cannot afford poor matches in the field, dropping Virat Kohli on 23 with the score 65 for three,” Vaughan wrote.
Vaughan was also highly critical of the England team’s fielding, especially the catching as Rory Burns’ dropped Rohit Sharma in the second innings, and the opener went onto slam 127 runs laying the platform for a huge score.
"I would like to know why in the last couple of years this fielding team has not improved. They continue to drop chances and should have bowled India out for 125 in the first innings. Then they were massively under par in their own first innings scoring 290. They do not make enough runs when it is flat,” he said.
Vaughan also said that the loss also exposed the fact that England bowlers need conditions and surface to become effective. He said that the England attack couldn’t do anything because there was no swing or seam.
"In the second innings with the ball, England's attack was found out because there was no swing or seam. England lack pace and variation to make things happen in flat conditions. This England Test team are dependent on the pitch helping them. When that happens they look like taking 20 wickets like they did at Headingley, otherwise they struggle,” he wrote.
Vaughan also said that England underplayed its spinners and wrote: "This England set-up do not seem to want to manage spin either. They do not bowl the spinner enough when playing on a flat pitch and they have not picked Jack Leach since the winter. How Leach has not bowled a ball all summer is beyond me."
(IANS inputs)
