Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 6 (ANI): Joe Root continued from where he left the other day and became the first batsman to score a double century in his 100th Test. His dominance on the second day prompted India spinner Shahbaz Nadeem to come with different plans.
England continued to dominate with the bat as Root hit a well-made 218 before trapped by Nadeem in front of the stumps. The India spinner made sure he bowled at the stumps to get the priceless wicket of the England skipper.
After the end of the day’s play, Nadeem explained how he dismissed Root, who was sweeping the ball very well against the Indian spinners.
“Joe Root is really a good player and looking at the recent outing he has been in red hot form. He is sweeping very well so if you are bowling to him, you have to come up with plans like a bowl at stumps and not pitch the ball outside the line of the stumps,” said Nadeem during the virtual press conference on Saturday.
“Every spinner faces some problem when the batsmen start sweeping the ball but at the same time, you have to stick with your line and length. Wait for your time, wait for the batsmen to make a mistake,” he added.
Ben Stokes dominated Nadeem during the course of play but the Indian spinner ended up dismissing the England all-rounder on day two of the first Test. Nadeem admitted that Stokes prompted him to change his line while bowling to the all-rounder
“I feel I was trying to bowl on the rough outside the off stumps but he was trying to counter-attack me by laying reverse sweep. Yaa, he did change my line and length,” said Nadeem.
Indian bowlers have given 37 extra runs of which 19 have come from no balls. “I feel I am slightly jumping late before the crease and maybe that is the reason I am facing some problems. I need to work on those things going forward,” said Nadeem.
Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Chahar were added to the squad after all-rounder Axar Patel was ruled out of the first Test of the four-match series against England. Nadeem was subsequently picked in the playing XI ahead of Kuldeep Yadav and the left-arm spinner said he was mentally prepared for the game.
“I was in the stand-in squad and had got a hint a day before the first that I might get a chance to feature in the playing XI. So I was mentally prepared for the game,” said Nadeem.
Root’s double ton and Stokes’ 82 have guided England to post a mammoth score on day two of the first Test. England ended the second day after scoring a mammoth 555 runs for the loss of eight wickets. In the final session, India bagged four wickets including the much-awaited dismissal of Root (218). (ANI)