"Sarfaraz Khan will thank Root for not taking that catch" - Brad Hogg recalls significant moment in IND vs ENG 3rd Test
Former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg believes one of the biggest turning points in the third Test between India and England at Rajkot was when Joe Root dropped Rohit Sharma. The Indian captain was just on 27 and it could have made the hosts four wickets down within the first session.
Hogg feels that would have exposed debutant Sarfaraz Khan to the raw pace of Mark Wood upfront and might have compounded the problems for the hosts.
In a video on his YouTube channel, here's what Brad Hogg had to say about that dropped catch (20:45):
"Joe Root not taking that catch of Rohit Sharma on the first morning when India were three down was a costly miss. That denied Sarfaraz Khan coming in with India four down and Wood still fresh. Sarfaraz will thank Root for not taking that catch and he was lucky. But he took his opportunity and did really well. He is going to have a bright future."
Sarfaraz had a sensational outing in both innings with scores of 62 & 68*. On the other hand, Joe Root continued to have a horrific series and the scrutiny increased further when he was dismissed off a reverse-sweep off the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah.
On this, Brad Hogg added (24:48):
"You need to know that Joe Root has scored a lot of runs playing that shot. And now that he has been dismissed twice that way in recent times, people are questioning him. He shouldn't be questioned. For me he needs to keep playing that shot if he needs to keep putting pressure on the opposition bowlers."
Joe Root has scored just 77 runs in the series so far from six innings and that's one of the main reasons why England haven't been able to post a total of 400-plus more than once.
Brad Hogg on England's approach
England's Bazball approach received a lot of criticism after they collapsed from 224/2 to 319 all-out in the first innings in Rajkot. However, Brad Hogg opined why that wasn't the wrong approach from the visitors, stating (27:00):
"England tried to score as quickly as possible to avoid batting in the conditions they did on Day 4 where they got bundled out. I thought England's approach was perfect and we're set up nicely by Duckett. You wanted to get ahead of India as quickly as possible and it just didn't come off. You play by the sword, you die by the sword."
India won the Rajkot Test by 434 runs, their biggest victory margin in terms of runs in their Test history. England will need real inspiration to bounce back from such a massive loss, with the fourth Test beginning in Ranchi on Friday (February 23).