Nasser Hussain very impressed with Indian fast bowlers

Former England captain Nasser Hussain heaped praise on the Indian seamers after the hosts defeated the visitors quite comprehensively in the 3rd Test to gain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 5 match series.

India was exceptional and outplayed the visitors in each and every department. Despite gutsy knocks from Joe Root and teenager Haseeb Hameed, the hosts chased down the target with utmost ease. With two more Tests left, a chance of an English comeback looks extremely bleak.

Hussain, one of the astute cricketing brains in the world was particularly impressed with Indian pacers and stated that the Indian pacers have outplayed their English counterparts hands down. Shami and Umesh Yadav scalped 7 wickets in the 3rd Test and have shared the workload well with the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jayant Yadav.

Shami is only second to Ashwin in the wickets tally for the series with 10 wickets to his name.

“Indian seamers have been especially impressive for me. The Indian swing bowlers may have outplayed the English, with the exception of Ben Stokes. They have kept up the pace, the reverse swing and the skiddy nature of their bowling which English batsmen are not used to. Jayant Yadav is also playing a crucial role. Once Ashwin gets tired, for him to come and take crucial wickets, there is no let-up for England. So India is looking like a complete rounded bowling attack with good reserves,” Hussain told India Today.

Hussain was pretty disappointed with England’s performance and said that Cook and his boys failed to capitalise on winning a very important toss at Mohali.

“England can have no complaints. They have gone 2-0 down and people will think they must have played on rank turners. In fact, they have won two of the tosses and they have not played on dust bowls spinning tracks. It’s been very fair pitches. Winning the toss is important but it’s important how you bat after that,” said Hussain.

India has been criticized off late for preparing rank turners but it has not been the case in the ongoing Test series so far. All the matches have witnessed some sporting pitches in Rajkot, Vizag and Mohali. While India played out a hard-fought draw in the 1st Test, they came back with a bang to win the next two Tests.

India has remained undefeated in the last 16 Tests and it would be an uphill task for the visitors to make a comeback in the Test series. Hussain found Gareth Batty’s selection in the Mohali Test as surprising but stated that six bowlers with an extra spinner could work well for England in Mumbai.

“In cooler conditions in Mohali, I don’t think they needed an extra bowler. If at all, they could have played to their own strength in seam bowling. I don’t want to point fingers at anyone. Batty wasn’t bowled much and yes he didn’t get runs. But in Mumbai, in the heat and humidity, they could well go for six bowlers again and who knows, it could spin. So, it could be a toss-up between Ansari and Batty. And with Hameed’s injury, England have a lot of decisions to make,” he said.