NEW DELHI: England asserted their dominance on Day 2 of the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford, Manchester, ending Thursday’s play at 225/2. A commanding 166-run opening stand between Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley laid the foundation, helping England close in on India’s first innings total of 358. The deficit now stands at just 133 runs, despite Rishabh Pant’s earlier half-century.Duckett and Crawley resumed the final session at 77 without loss and continued to pile on the runs. Duckett reached his fifty with a boundary off Shardul Thakur, which also took England past the 100-run mark.Crawley wasn’t far behind, bringing up his own half-century by driving Thakur to the boundary in the 21st over. England crossed 150 in the 29th over, courtesy of another Duckett boundary—this time off Mohammed Siraj.
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Former England skipper Nasser Hussain didn’t hold back in his criticism of India’s bowling and captaincy. “Slightly changing conditions, but they bowled very poorly. A change in overhead conditions doesn’t make you bowl both sides of the wicket. Too many balls on the pads. Captain’s decisions… didn’t quite agree with, to be honest. Kamboj wasn’t in the squad a week ago, to bring him into the team and give him a new ball ahead of Siraj… seems odd,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.He continued: “I would’ve gone for Siraj for a short burst, then switched him to the other end to follow Bumrah. We’ve all been talking about the green channel on the strip across… this is the end where Stokes bowled and got his fifer, and got uneven bounce and sideways movement. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.”
The former captain added: “Rishabh Pant went out there on one leg, and got valuable runs today. They’ve just handed those runs back to England.”The breakthrough finally came in the 32nd over when Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Crawley for 84 off 113 balls, breaking the opening stand at 166.England lost their second wicket at 197, with debutant Anshul Kamboj claiming his first Test scalp by removing Duckett for 94 from 100 deliveries.England crossed 200 in the 39th over, with Ollie Pope finding the boundary off Kamboj.At stumps, Pope and Joe Root had added an unbeaten 28-run partnership.For India, Kamboj returned figures of 1/48 from 10 overs, while Jadeja ended the day with 1/37 in 8 overs.
