"Too many never looked comfortable against him" - Geoffrey Boycott roasts England batters for not reading Kuldeep Yadav well
Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott was baffled to see England batters not trying to read Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav during their recently concluded Test series. The left-arm wrist-spinner broke the game open on several occasions in the series, with a sensational five-wicket haul in the first innings in Dharamsala.
Boycott was surprised not to see the visitors adapt and improve while facing Kuldeep over the course of the series. He expected them to figure out a way to deal with Kuldeep's threat, but the Dharamsala fifer was an indication that there were no lessons learned.
In his column for The Telegraph, here's what Geoffrey Boycott wrote about England facing Kuldeep Yadav:
"I was amazed how many of them could not read the wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and by the end of the series were still no wiser. A bowler can be a mystery to you the first couple of times you have to face him but at international level batsmen should be able to find a way to work him out.
"Too many never looked comfortable against him and were reduced to staying back and trying to play him off the pitch."
Geoffrey Boycott also shed light on the importance of being assured in defense while playing in Indian conditions. While the idea of Bazball was to play fearless cricket, the former cricketer felt that strategy played right into the hands of the quality Indian spinners.
Geoffrey Boycott doesn't think England will learn from series loss
Geoffrey Boycott cited Joe Root's example and explained how the star batter realized that Bazball wasn't working for him and then churned out runs in the last two Tests playing in his own conventional way. He doesn't feel England would learn from the drubbing against India.
On this, Boycott stated:
"Joe Root is a perfect example of a batsman trying to play Bazball in the first three Tests and failing miserably and soon as he went back to his old style of batting, he scored an excellent century in the fourth Test and but for running out of partners would probably have scored another one in this last Test."
He added:
"Stokes says they will learn from this tour. I am not convinced. They will go back home and revert to type and beat ordinary West Indies and Sri Lanka teams and India will be forgotten as a distant memory."
Only time will tell whether England would bring a few tweaks to their approach after the comprehensive loss against India. They have quite some time to reflect on in the longest format, with their next assignment being in July against West Indies.