“India haven’t quite been ruthless as they would’ve liked to be” – Nasser Hussain on Virat Kohli-less side against England in first two Tests
Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes that India failed to dominate the visitors with the bat during the first two Tests in Hyderabad and Vizag, respectively. The 55-year-old pointed out that the batting unit looked out of sorts apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and KL Rahul in the two matches.
The comments came as the majority of Indian batters, including skipper Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, and KS Bharat, failed to play big knocks in the two matches.
On Wednesday (February 7), Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports:
“He’s [Virat Kohli] an aggressive cricketer. He’s in your face cricketer, but actually, I think with the bat, in three of the four innings, India haven’t quite been ruthless as they would’ve liked to be."
He continued:
"It’s 1-1 and they’ve batted very well. The likes of KL Rahul batted well, and Shubman Gill and young Jaiswal, with his double hundred, played brilliantly, but if you ask Rahul Dravid.”
Indian batters under the scanner:
Rohit Sharma – 90 runs in four innings at an average of 22.50
Shreyas Iyer – 104 runs in four innings at an average of 26
KS Bharat – 92 runs in four innings at an average of 23
“None of their batters went on to get a 100 and a big hundred” – Nasser Hussain reacts to India’s 28-run loss to England in Hyderabad
Nasser Husain, meanwhile, pointed out that players failing to score big was the prime reason behind India and England’s losses in the first and second Tests.
The cricketer-turned-commentator reacted as Ollie Pope (196), Yashasvi Jaiswal (209) and Shubman Gill (104) were the only batters to score centuries in the first two Tests. He said:
“England’s problems in the second Test match, apart from Crawley, there were a lot of 30s and 40s, and they may look good on the scorecard, but they don’t win you Test matches, and that was similar with India in Hyderabad."
Hussain continued:
"None of their batters went on to get a 100 and a big hundred, and if you look at the second Test with Jaiswal getting the double hundred in the first innings and Shubman Gill getting a 100 in the second innings, that’s what wins you Test matches.”
Hussain also urged the players to stick to their natural game by citing the examples of 'attacking' Jaiswal and 'classy' Gill to try and pile up big runs in the Test series. He said:
“However, you wanna do it, you can do it in an attacking way like Jaiswal did or in a classy way like Shubman Gill did. That’s what Dravid would be trying and knock home into that team. 'If we're gonna miss the runs of Kohli, we can’t be getting 60s and 70s, we need big runs'."
He added:
"That applies to England as well. A lot of batters got in and got out in Vizag and that’s something they need to put it right.”
England batters under the scanner:
Ben Stokes – 134 runs in four innings at an average of 33.50
Ben Duckett – 131 runs in four innings at an average of 32.75
Jonny Bairstow – 98 runs in four innings at an average of 24.50
Ben Foakes – 80 runs in four innings at an average of 20
Meanwhile, England opener Zak Crawley also threw his wicket in the 70s in both innings during the second Test.
With the five-match Test series tied 1-1, the two teams will next face off in the third Test in Rajkot from February 15.