India took two quick wickets in the first session on day 2 to pull things back but the partnership between Jonny Bairstow (37) and Ollie Pope meant that it was a shared session. Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan analysed the session in a chat with Cricbuzz saying that Indian bowlers needs to find the right balance between being aggressive and defensive.
England scored 86 runs and lost two wickets in 25 overs in the first session. Shortly after the second session started, Mohammed Siraj removed Bairstow to put an end to an 89-run partnership between Pope and Bairstow. They scored a lot of boundaries in a space of 10 overs to get the Indian skipper scratching his head. But Siraj bowled one in the channel getting Bairstow in front of the wickets as England lost a review.
India strike straight after lunch as Siraj traps Bairstow in front of the stumps.
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“India started the session very well with two quick wickets. They then got into an aggressive mode and allowed the other England batsmen to score easy runs. Then the bowlers became either too aggressive or defensive. India needs to strike a balance between being too aggressive or defensive” said Zaheer.
India Concealed Too Many Boundaries: Zaheer Khan
He further said that when a partnership grows, India should limit the opposition batsmen from giving away too many boundaries and make them earn their runs.
“Conceding too many boundaries inside the first session did not help India’s cause. If you concede boundaries aftter every over or two it does not help the team” added Zaheer.
He concluded by saying that since Indian bowlers gave away too many boundaries in the first session of play, it was a shared session or else India could have had the upper hand.
” A cushion of 300 runs for India would not have hurt India conceading the number of boundaries that they did. But it a low-scoring match every run matters whch is why saving every run is important.
The wicket as per Zaheer played out evenly however there were a few moments when it behaved unevenly.
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