England have found a very good No.3 in Zak Crawley: Sourav Ganguly
Former Indian skipper and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly believes that England have found an ideal No.3 in Zak Crawley. Over the past few months, that position has been up for grabs, with Joe Root not particularly preferring to bat at that slot.
However, post Zak Crawley's excellent double century in the 3rd England-Pakistan Test, Sourav Ganguly believes that the debate for that position has now been settled.
Zak Crawley was drafted into the English side for the final two encounters after Ben Stokes had flown to New Zealand for family reasons.
Zak Crawley grabbed the opportunity with both hands and conjured a spectacular double ton.
In fact, Sourav Ganguly feels that England should not only give Zak Crawley an extended run of chances in red-ball cricket but also consider him as an option across all formats.
Sourav Ganguly took to Twitter to express his excitement over Zak Crawley.
"England have found a very good no 3 in Crawley.. looks a class player .. hope to see him in all formats regularly @nassercricket @ECB_cricket," he tweeted.
Zak Crawley's 267 has put England in a strong position in the 3rd Test
England opted to bat first in the third Test and were in a spot of bother at 127-4. However, Zak Crawley, along with Jos Buttler absorbed the initial pressure and added 359 runs for the fifth wicket, helping England post a mammoth total of 593-8 in their first innings.
Zak Crawley played an array of shots all around the park and his positive batting made sure that England maintained a good tempo and put the visitors on the back foot.
In reply, Pakistan were reeling at 24/3 at Stumps on Day 2 and have an enormous mountain to climb in the remaining days if they are to get anything out of the encounter.