As the second Test at Visakhapatnam between India and England comes to a close, the touring side will be fancying their chances to extend their lead in the Test series. With two days remaining of the Test, nine wickets remaining and 332 runs to win, the match will prove to be a tightly fought contest.
Former England captain and batting legend, Sir Alastair Cook has tipped Zak Crawley to play a big role in the 2nd innings of the Test. The opening batter has remained unbeaten with a score of 29 off 50 deliveries at stumps on Day 3.
Cook had spoken to TNT Sports where he said, “Zak Crawley is going to play such an important part tomorrow. His ability to score at the rate he does and how hard he can be to bowl at, as such a boundary hitter, he’ll play an important part in the morning.”
The opening batter is yet to have a big total but has mustered up a decent contribution of 76 in the first innings of the second Test.
READ MORE: ’70-30 At the Moment’: Shubman Gill Backs Indian Bowlers to Get the Job Done in Vizag Test
India looked to be in front as they were eyeing a big total to extend their lead with Shubman Gill scoring a fantastic century, but the rest of the Indian batting unit barring Axar Patel failed to put in a decent contribution.
The former England skipper believes that there is an element of fear from the Indian side regarding Bazball. He said, “You’re almost seeing a little bit of the fear of Bazball. They’re 400 runs ahead, but in the last half an hour they had Ashwin blocking it almost as if every run was so important and you think if it were against any other side, sides I’ve led before and all that, this Indian side would be trying to crash this ball around the park with the tail and get bowling.”
“There’s just something about this side which has caused a bit of chaos in the opposition, and India is so wary of this. The chances of England chasing 400 in the subcontinent in the fourth innings are very, very low, but they just know that if Crawley gets going, Stokes gets going, Root gets going, it’s happened to them in the past.”
Cook also suggested that there might be a lack of confidence in the Indian side as well which led to taking the non-risky approach. The former skipper took the example of India not having an attacking field for the English batters as Day 3 came to a close.
READ MORE: ‘Not Easy to Score Runs Here’: Shubman Gill on Vizag Pitch After Fighting Ton on Day 3 Against England
“It may also be a little bit of confidence in this India side, they’re not playing their best cricket, so they’re just giving themselves that extra bit of protection (with the bat). We saw it in that last session, I cannot remember an Indian side, in the last four or five overs, not having any fielders round the batters for their spinners on the third evening.”
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