India were pretty ordinary in Hyderabad: Anil Kumble

In a conversation on ‘Match Centre Live’, at the end of the 1st Test against England in Hyderabad on Sunday, Anil Kumble, former India cricketer, and Expert, JioCinema, and Sports18, praised the way England’s Tom Hartley fought back from the setback of the first innings to guide the visitors to a win, saying: 

“England were brilliant over the last two days. India were pretty ordinary. In the field, you could see that heads were dropping down while fielding. But credit to England, the way they batted, the way they came and bowled. I mean Tom Hartley, debutant, the first ball hit for a six, and then the first five overs he was going at about seven runs an over. To come back and bat really well, take two wickets in the first innings, and seven in the second and win the match for England was absolutely fantastic. England have done exceptionally well.”

Kumble also spoke on the turning point of the match from India’s point of view: “India could certainly have been more positive in their batting approach in the second innings. Once Rohit Sharma got out and Ravindra Jadeja was run out, the course of the match changed.”

Parthiv Patel, former India cricketer spoke of Shubman Gill’s recent struggles, saying: “The way Shubman was batting in the first innings, he was not trying to play shots. If you don’t try to score, then bowlers at the international level won’t give you too many loose deliveries. He has to show the skills to rotate the strike even if he’s not finding boundaries. He cannot make technical adjustments (ahead of the second Test) but can definitely change his mindset and approach towards batting.”

 Zaheer Khan, former India cricketer too weighed in on Gill’s performance, saying: “He looked under pressure even in the first innings. Because of the calibre of the batsman that he is, we did not see the kind of flow from his batting that we are used to seeing in the first innings. A batsman batting at No. 3 looks to build on the momentum and we did not see that. That shows he’s under some sort of pressure. So, he has to deal with it. But as of now, I don’t think that there is a question mark over his place in the side.”

Owais Shah, former England cricketer spoke highly of England’s victory, saying: “If you go back to Day 1 and Day 2, England were probably outplayed a little bit. They didn’t score in the first innings. However, on Day 3, the way they picked up wickets early, got themselves back in the game, and then finally of course dominated proceedings.

They won back-to-back sessions with younger guys putting their hands up. The young man Pope, scoring 196, and then of course the debutant Hartley, seven wickets in the second innings, won the game for England. He would have been aware that the senior spinner Jack Leach was injured and took extra responsibility and put his hands up for captain Stokes.”