"Would like to see England play on Jaiswal's ego bit more" - David Lloyd calls southpaw England's biggest challenge for rest of the series
Former England cricketer David Lloyd called Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal their biggest challenge and wanted the visitors to lure him into false strokes by playing on his ego.
The 22-year-old is the leading run-scorer in the series after two Tests with 321 runs at an average of 80.75. It includes a breathtaking 209 in the first innings of the second Test in Visakhapatnam to set up India's series-leveling 106-run victory.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Lloyd wrote that England should persist with an off-spinner to Jaiswal and tempt the left-handed batter with men in the deep.
"Jaiswal is a dasher all right but he doesn't have an obvious weakness, so I would be thinking slightly outside the box and rather than bowling the left-arm spinner against him with the new ball, I would be tempted to persevere with the off-spinner, placing temptation in the deep. I would like to see England play on Jaiswal's ego bit more," wrote Lloyd.
"Shubman Gill stepped up in the second Test and the Indian batters are all well capable of getting massive scores. The one England have had the most problems with so far is Yashasvi Jaiswal and their challenge therefore is to try to work out a plan to dismiss the series' leading run scorer," he added
Jaiswal has made an impressive start to his Test career, averaging almost 58 in six games, including a magnificent 171 on debut against the West Indies.
The southpaw scored a quick-fire 80 off 74 balls in India's first Test defeat at Hyderabad.
"Seems to be a venue where you can really give it a tonk" - David Llyod
David Lloyd further suggested that the historically high-scoring pitch at Rajkot could play into England's hands with their batters potentially going hammer and tongs from the get-go.
England have gone at over four runs per over in three of the four innings thus far in the series.
"Such ridiculously high totals at Rajkot suggest there is little difference whether you bat first or second, and in old money this would be a long, drawn-out match. However, there's been a mind shift from England of course and we all know this team under Ben Stokes are going to be aggressive. It seems to be a venue where you can really give it a tonk," wrote Lloyd.
Lloyd also called for the English batters to convert their starts into game-changing three-figure scores.
"One of England's top six has to get a massive hundred. If that happens, the team get 400. Scores of 250-270 are no good. Forget pleasant 50s and cameos of 20 and 30," concluded Lloyd.
While India haven't lost a home Test series since 2012, England are yet to lose a Test series since the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum association as captain and coach in mid-2022.
The third Test of the so-far enthralling series begins in Rajkot on Thursday, February 15.