- By Namrata Vijay
- Sat, 26 Jul 2025 09:31 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs ENG 4th Test: Ex-India cricketer Ravi Sastri has reckoned that he found it odd to watch Washington Sundar come in late during the second innings of the ongoing Test match and especially when he had taken four wickets during the third Test match and that the team's strategies werem't working and how they are on the verge of losing this series. Till stumps on Day 3, the hosts were 544/7 and were leading by 186 runs.
When Sundar came into the attack, he immediately dismissed batters like Ollie Pope and Harry Brook, and it only exposed Gill's inexperience in captaincy to the world.
Shastri emphasised that Gill made lots of tactical blunders during the ongoing match, and that's how the Ben Stokes-led side took a huge lead.
“He took four wickets in the last game. Then you bring that bloke after 67, 69 overs. I mean, what does it tell that player? Here, I’ve taken four. I should be like a front-runner, bowling within the first 30, 35 overs," Shastri was quoted as saying on Sky Sports.
“And you’re getting me on after 69. And then he takes the first two wickets. So tactically, I thought they were found wanting. I thought Siraj should have taken the new ball yesterday," he said.
“Instead of giving it to Kamboj, who’s new, playing his first Test. That let the pressure off England. Then the bouncer tactic, which they’re 24 hours late. That should have been tried yesterday to see if they could have made further inroads," he added.
Joe Root scored a brilliant knock of 150 runs off 248 balls, whereas England captain Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope made significant contributions, just a day after the openers had given the team a flying start and left the Indian bowlers clueless.
It has been a long Test series with one match remaining, but looking at the body language of the fast bowlers on the third day, their surviving this series looks quite daunting.