Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes Joe Root & Co. won’t be able to make a comeback in the ongoing five-match Test series against India after facing a crushing 151-run defeat in the second Test at Lord’s on Monday. India are now leading the five-match series 1-0 with three more matches to be played.
The visitors resumed their second innings from 181/6 on Day 5 and had their hopes pinned on Rishabh Pant to give them a good start. However, Pant was dismissed early in the opening session before Ishant Sharma followed suit. However, tail-enders Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah combined to post an unbeaten stand of 89 runs for the ninth wicket and bail India out of trouble.
While Shami scored an unbeaten 56 off 70 balls, Bumrah played a crucial knock of 34 not out. The duo added an unbeaten stand of 89 runs and propelled India’s total to 298/8 (declared). The duo came back to trouble the England batsmen with the ball during their 272-run chase as Bumrah and Shami accounted for the dismissals of English openers Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley respectively.
After losing their openers on duck apiece, England went on to lose the plot as the Indian pacers dominated the proceedings and bowled out the hosts for a paltry 120 to register an emphatic win in the Test match. Vaughan believes England have fired India up in the Lord’s defeat and it will be an uphill task for the hosts to make a comeback in the series.
“England have prodded them. They have fired them up. It will take a very good England team to come back from here – and I don’t think they will. It’s going to be a long three Test matches from here,” Vaughan told BBC.
Vaughan also slammed England for their poor tactics on Day five against the Indian tail-enders. The England pacers looked to attack Bumrah and Shami with short balls and bouncers but the move backfired as the Indian pacers settled down well after surviving the chin music and looked in sublime control for the rest of their innings to add an unbeaten 89-run stand between them.
“They were all over the place. I’ve got no idea what they were thinking. The key when you’re under pressure is to keep things simple. You’re bowling to tailenders, bowl to hit the top of off stump, don’t bowl short and wide,” Vaughan said.
“Jasprit Bumrah had more fielders on the boundary than Rishabh Pant. How can that happen when you’ve got players like Joe Root and James Anderson who have played over 100 Test matches? They got the tactics completely wrong,” he added.
