Parthiv Patel takes potshots at 'exposed' England bowling attack

Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are England’s lead spinners

Parthiv Patel may be diminutive in size but his cheekiness off the field and eagerness to get involved in the on-field action is much higher than most of his peers. Now, the 31-year old has taken an open jab at the England bowlers following their lacklustre showing in the ongoing 5-match series in India.

The visitors’ chances to pull one back in Mumbai may have taken a dent with Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara helping the Indians mount a solid start in the first-innings after their bowlers had conceded 400. At the end of the second day’s play, the deficit has been cut down to 254 with still nine wickets intact.

During the end of day press conference, Patel claimed that India's bowling attack is a cut above their counterparts’ personnel whilst revisiting the third Test in Mohali to explain his viewpoint.

Refuting the impact of home advantage, he insisted, “More than the surface, I think the quality of our bowling is far better. Our bowlers get definitely more revolutions on the ball than what their spinners are doing. And obviously, we vary our pace very well. We have deceived a lot of players in the air rather than just waiting for the help off the wicket. I think there's definitely a lot of difference in the quality.”

The pugnacious wicket-keeper batsman added, “We have definitely tried to spin the ball more than what they have tried to do, for sure. That's what even I felt in the last game also. Last game – the way our bowlers bowled in Mohali, where there was no turn and you could see how they bowled in Mohali when we were batting second where they actually got exposed because there was no help in it.”

Upon losing the toss, India’s bowling unit clicked collectively to dismiss Alastair Cook’s team for 288 in the first innings. Armed with a 134-run lead, they reduced England’s batting lineup to 236 in the second innings. Parthiv made a mockery of the paltry chase by smashing a 54-ball 67 and the host took a 2-0 lead in the series.

Buttler was lucky, says Patel

After reaching a comfortable position at 230/2 in the first innings of the Mumbai Test, England were undone by a stellar spell from off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and collapsed to 249/5. However, they regrouped through a lower-order rearguard from Jos Buttler to eventually finish at 400. It is important to note that the attacking right-hander shares the same dressing room with Parthiv at Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

Not one to show any restraint, the Ahmedabad-born cricketer felt, “I think, honestly, he was very lucky yesterday (first day). There were a lot of balls when there were inside-edges and (some) missed the stumps by a very little distance, but I thought he batted well today. When you don't have any pressure, you tend to play well. Once wickets fell, he had to play with the tail enders and he played his game. I would love to see him defending a few in the second innings if it turns and bounces.”

Parthiv might get his answer in the coming days when the match progresses to its business stages. In the meantime, he would hope that Buttler does not walk into the middle in the second innings on the back of a heavy lead.

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