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Siraj speaks with skipper Shubman Gill during Day 2 of the fifth IND vs ENG Test at the Oval. (AP)
With England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett taking England to a score of 92 without loss at one stage in reply to India’s first-innings total of 224 in the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval, the Ollie Pope-led England team looked set to post a huge first-innings total. However, with the Shubman Gill-led Indian team restricting England to a first-innings total of 247, India remained in the hunt, finishing the second day with a second-innings score of 75 for 2 and a lead of 52 runs. Former England captain Michael Vaughan praised Indian captain Shubman Gill for his gameplay post-lunch on the second day, where Indian bowlers, led by Mohammad Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, ensured that England could not cross 250.
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“The captaincy of Shubman Gill was outstanding in the afternoon because he brought the field in and he said to the England players, ‘If you’re going to play good shots, you’re going to be rewarded, but if you don’t, then there’s a chance we’ll take one or two wickets.’ There were a couple of really good deliveries from Siraj to get rid of Ollie Pope, who was playing nicely, and Joe Root, who was playing the Joe Root way. Those were two big moments in the afternoon session,” Vaughan said while commenting on BBC Sport.
Earlier on the second day of the Oval Test, England all-rounder Chris Woakes was sidelined from the Test with a shoulder injury. Woakes had suffered the injury during the 57th over of India’s first innings on Thursday as he stretched to make a dive near the boundary to save a run, resulting in the injury to his shoulder. With England a bowler short in the match and with London weather expected to be sunny on Saturday, Vaughan shared how he sees India taking advantage of England being one bowler short.
“I’d rather be India, with the fact that England don’t have Chris Woakes and tomorrow the sun’s going to shine. You would think this pitch would quieten down, but if it stays like this, it’s going to be a great game. It’s had movement throughout, and the standout partnership of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley looked like it exploded England ahead—and then India remembered to bowl at the stumps, they bowled a bit fuller,” Vaughan added.
Vaughan’s fellow commentator and former Indian wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta also termed India as being ‘a little ahead’ in the game.
“India are a little ahead in this game; it’s been a low-scoring game. India are ahead, for sure, but I think at the end of the day, it’s going to be about pressure. So far in this series, this India side have handled pressure well, and it’s been a long tour, one more innings to go. You have to keep everything else away and just bat normally. The pitch will get better; it’s just about how you handle it. At Lord’s, it wasn’t handled well; at Old Trafford, it was handled very well by India,” Dasgupta said on BBC.
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