Nasser Hussain, a former captain of England, has urged the visitors to bat as ruthless as Rohit and Jadeja in the third Test match against India in Rajkot. Nasser Hussain thinks England has a window of opportunity, but in order to take advantage of it, they need to limit India to less than 400 on Day 2.
India pulled off an incredible comeback, going from 33-3 to 326-5 in the end because to centuries from Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, who gave his team the lead. Before Rohit was out for 131, the two added 204, but Jadeja held the wicket till the end of the day, remaining undefeated on 110.
Sarfaraz Khan, who was making his debut, was equally important as he reached his half-century off of 48 balls. After scoring a rapid seventy-seven with Jadeja, he perished for sixty-two after taking a straight hit from Mark Wood. India’s score at the end of the day’s play was 326/5, with Kuldeep Yadav (1) and Jadeja (110) still unbeaten at the crease.
You win Test matches with hundreds, and big hundreds- Nasser Hussain
Speaking to Sky Sports, Nasser Hussain noted that Rohit Sharma was adamant about holding onto his wicket following Joe Root’s lifeline and felt that England’s batsmen needed to have the same mentality. Unlike the previous Test, Nasser Hussain believes the visitors must score high hundreds.
Nasser Hussain praised Rohit Sharma for making the English bowlers work hard and placing a price tag on his wicket. Rohit bounced back from a run of poor performances with an amazing 131-run knock off 196 balls that included 14 fours and 3 sixes.
“England will want to wrap up the lower order of India. There is an opportunity for them tomorrow morning, but they’re going to have to bowl them out for less than 400. India have been a bit sloppy with the bat in this series, gifting England a few soft dismissals, and you could see that Rohit, after that drop, was absolutely determined not to give his wicket away,” he elaborated.
“When England come round to bat, they’ve got to be as ruthless as Rohit and Jadeja. In the last game, there were a lot of starts – 20s, 30s, 40s – but you win Test matches with hundreds, and big hundreds,” Nasser Hussain added.
The day had started so well, but it could have been so much better- Nasser Hussain at the end of play
Given how smoothly the first session went, Hussain believed that England could have had a far better day despite Sarfaraz’s late wicket. He stated:
“England have had a difficult day. They were buoyed by the late run out of Sarfaraz Khan, the debutant, right at the end of play but it could have been so much better. India were 47-3 when Root dropped Rohit. The day had started so well; England’s two seamers were exceptional – Wood, in particular, when coming back into the side. Jaiswal nicked to slip and Gill got an absolute beauty. They are two lads in decent form, with a double-hundred and a hundred already in the series.”
Right now, the five-Test series is locked at 1-1.