Virat Kohli-led team India faced a humiliating loss against England in the third Test match at Headingley, Leeds. Joe Root and co. won the game by defeating India by an inning and 76 runs. The Indian batting unit was seen struggling against English pacers in both the innings of the match. Meanwhile, former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg feels that team India shouldn’t make changes in playing XI in the next Test match.
The last 6 wickets for India added 63 runs over the two inns at Headingley, the 2nd-lowest ever when they've batted two full inningshttps://t.co/jHqDE65oul #ENGvIND
— ESPNcricinfo stats (@ESPNcric_stats) August 28, 2021
India was heading into the Leeds Test with a lot of confidence under their belt after dominating the Lord’s Test. However, they were unable to replicate their performance either with bat or ball. Winning the toss and batting Kohli and co. posted 78 runs on the board. The Bowling unit conceded 432 runs against England batters. Meanwhile, while trailing by a huge margin and after a good outing of the top order, India scored only 278 runs to lose the match.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Hogg suggested India to not make any changes in playing XI. As he feels that experience of Ajinkya Rahane will be helpful for the team in Oval Test. He stated:
“I think they have to go with the same XI in the next Test. I think Suryakumar Yadav will need to wait. You got to back players that have been there and done the job before. It is going to be a heated Test match at The Oval and you will need the calm shoulders there.”
After two collapses at Headingley, will India consider playing six specialist batters?
Virat Kohli has pretty much ruled out that option: https://t.co/VXGJw2dz3g #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/4lY5o6CPkc
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 28, 2021
“Suryakumar Yadav is the player to come in the middle order if they want to make that change”: Brad Hogg
Further talking about a change in playing XI Hogg opined that the only change he feels India can make is adding Suryakumar Yadav in the middle order. However, he feels that India needs to be very careful if they make that replacement as Ajinkya Rahane is an experienced campaigner. He elaborated:
“I think Suryakumar Yadav is the player to come in the middle order if they want to make that change. But they need to be very careful because Rahane is a very experienced customer. The last Test that he had he played a very good innings. He has done the job for India before. Remember that it is 1-1 and you don’t have to panic and make extreme changes here and there,”.
Currently, The 5-match Test series is leveled at 1-1. England and India will be heading to Kennington Oval for the 4th Test which will begin on 2nd September 2021.
England win the third #ENGvIND Test at Headingley & level the series 1-1 against #TeamIndia.
We will look to bounce back in the fourth Test, starting September 2.
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/FChN8SDsxh pic.twitter.com/bwV926w2Vt
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 28, 2021
