Published 18:32 IST, February 24th 2021
'England don’t have enough skilled players,' says Vaughan as Root & Co crumble in 3rd Test
Michael Vaughan was criticised by the netizens for slamming England's team selection post batting debacle in the 1st innings of ongoing pink-ball Test
Former English skipper Michael Vaughan has tried to be in the limelight in the ongoing four-match Test series between India and England for either right or wrong reasons. While he had criticised the Chepauk wicket (rank-turner) in the previous Test last week, for a change, Vaughan has now lashed out at the visitors for a shambolic batting performance on a good batting wicket despite winning the toss in the ongoing third Test match at the newly-renovated Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
'Don't cry pls'
Taking to the micro-blogging site, the ex-middle-order batsman had slammed England by writing they are doing a great job of making sure that they bowl with the pink ball when the lights are on tonight (bowling on Day 1 of the match itself after a pathetic batting display in the first innings).
In another tweet, the cricket pundit slammed the visitors' team selection for the ongoing Test series. Giving further clarification on the same, the 2005 Ashes-winning skipper wrote that the Joe Root-led side has treated selection for this series like premier league teams treat the early stages of the FA Cup rounds. Furthermore, he added that they have committed such a blunder against the best team in the world.
However, the Indian cricket fans were not to buy into such claims and asked the Englishman to stop making lame excuses. Here are some of the reactions.
In the end, Vaughan had to admit that the visitors have not been able to play the non-spinning deliveries and then added that the scars from the second Test (where England had suffered a humiliating 317-run loss on a raging-turner) make him think that Joe Root & Co. just don’t have enough skilled players in these conditions.
Indian bowlers leave English batsmen bamboozled
The English batsmen never got going despite the coin landing in skipper Joe Root's favor as they ended up losing wickets at regular intervals with only opener Zak Crawley managing to show some resistance while he ran out of partners at the other end.
Crawley scored a vital half-century but failed to carry on after he was trapped plumb in front of the wicket off left-arm spinner Axar Patel for a fighting 53. The rest of the batting painted a sorry picture as none of the batsmen from either the top or middle-order including captain Root could even manage to score 20 runs as England's scorecard reads 112/9 in the 48th over.
Updated 18:42 IST, February 24th 2021