Former England captain Nasser Hussain has questioned England's approach with the bat on day two of the Edgbaston Test.
On day two (Thursday), India resumed from an overnight score of 310-5, with Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja at the crease. Jadeja was dismissed shortly before lunch, before Washington Sundar gave Gill company until tea as India's new captain scored a magnificent double century, eventually making 269 as India posted 587.
The Edgbaston wicket looked lifeless for long periods over the two days, with the occasional slight variation in bounce the only indication of assistance for the bowlers. Having seen India bat for over five sessions, England would have expected to do similar.
But as it happened, they lost two wickets – Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope – off consecutive balls the third over of their innings, before Zak Crawley was dismissed in the eighth.
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Hussain: England top order batters should be able to cope with this
On commentary duty, former England captain Nasser Hussain was critical of the hosts' approach, telling Dinesh Karthik, “We both did the World Test Championship final, and one evening the South African top order were going nowhere. They were 30 for four after 22 overs or something.
“And they needed to be a bit more proactive in those conditions against that attack. I don't see this as a... as an England top order batter, you should be able to cope with this. This is, this is flat.
“The ball's just swinging a bit. There's no need to tee off and waft outside your off stump. Back your defence as well.”
Duckett was dismissed after he hung his bat out at a wide-ish delivery from Akash Deep, as the catch was snapped up at third slip. Pope was undone by a ball that swung away late to catch the edge, and Crawley, like his opening partner, pushed at a delivery outside the line of the stumps, only to be caught in the cordon.
England's fourth-wicket pair of Joe Root and Harry Brook set about repairing the damage, scoring at close to four runs an over by the end of the day's play.
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