Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 4 (ANI): Former England skipper Michael Vaughan on Thursday criticised the English team for not batting to their potential in the ongoing fourth Test against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
England skipper Joe Root won the toss and opted to bat first, but the batters failed to make the most and lost wickets quickly in the first session of play.
Vaughan, who has been quite vocal in his criticism of the pitches used in the series, called this pitch “perfect” and blamed England batters for failing to score runs.
Taking to Twitter Vaughan wrote, “England’s batting so far worse than any of the last few Tests … This Pitch is a perfect surface to get a big first innings score … No spin … Ball coming onto the Bat … Very poor Batting so far … #INDvENG.”
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel’s twin strike and Mohammed Siraj’s prized scalp of Joe Root helped India gain an upper hand in the first session.
England openers Dominic Sibley and Zak Crawley saw off the first five overs bowled by the Indian pacers — Ishant Sharma and Siraj, who has come into the side in place of Jasprit Bumrah. However, the introduction of Axar in the sixth over brought immediate reward for the hosts as the spinner clean-bowled Sibley (2), reducing England to 10/1.
The 27-year-old struck again in his second over as he had Crawley (9) caught at mid-off. The right-handed batsman tried to go over the top to create more pressure on the bowler, but ended up mistiming the ball and handed a simple catch to Siraj. Immediately after the first drinks break, England skipper Root (5) was trapped in front by Siraj and the visitors got reduced to 30/3 in the 13th over.
Taking to Instagram, Vaughan on Tuesday shared a picture of him standing in dug-up soil with a bat in his hands. “Preparations going well for the 4th Test !! #OnOn #INDvENG,” he wrote in the caption.
Riding on brilliant spells of spin bowling from Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, India had registered a comprehensive 10-wicket win over England in the pink-ball Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium last week to go 2-1 up in the four-match series. (ANI)