England Opting To Bowl First At Lord's Wasn't An Ideal Decision, States Sachin Tendulkar
England Opting To Bowl First At Lord's Wasn't An Ideal Decision, States Sachin Tendulkar

Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar said England skipper Joe Root’s decision to bowl first in the second Test at Lord’s was not an ideal decision.

On Monday, India registered a 151-run victory over England in the second Test at Lord’s after the hosts were bowled out for 120 in the second innings.

Earlier in the day, the game looked in England’s bag after they dismissed the dangerous Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma, but the Indian tail-enders clawed their side’s way back into the game with a meticulous fight, and later the bowlers showed great skill to wrap England’s innings inside two sessions.

Sachin Tendulkar was surprised to see Joe Root opting to field first at Lord’s

Tendulkar credited Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul for their firepower on Day 1 and said he was surprised to see India being asked to bat by England.

England, Alastair Cook
Virat Kohli and Joe Root at the toss. (Image Credit: Getty)

“Bowling first wasn’t an ideal decision by the England captain and credit to our openers, they were brilliant. When I saw Joe Root putting India in after winning the toss, I was really surprised and I felt that in itself was an indication that England was worried about our fast bowling attack,” Tendulkar told PTI. 

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“I actually shared a message with a friend on Friday morning around 8 am that if the weather allows us, we are winning this Test match,” he added.

In the England team, I don’t see anyone other than Joe Root who can get a big hundred: Sachin Tendulkar

England skipper Joe Root has been consistent with the bat and has been the top-scorer in the series after smashing two centuries and a fifty in the first two Tests. Even in the second innings of the Lord’s Test, Root top-scored for England with 33, once he was dismissed, India paved its way towards their victory.

Joe Root
Joe Root (Image Credit: Twitter)

Tendulkar feels Root is not getting any support from the other batters of the England team and compared the likes of old England players to the current team in terms of their scoring ability.

“I felt that is where they lost the grip and if you look at their batting, how many batters can one say, this guy can come out and get a big hundred? In this team, I don’t see anyone other than Joe Root,” Tendulkar mentioned.  

“Yes they might get an odd hundred but how many can get big hundreds consistently? Other than Root, I can’t find anyone and that’s the state of their batting today.

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Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar (Image Credit: Twitter)

“Teams of past had number of such players whether Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Andrew Strauss,” he added. 

Mohammed Shami (56*) and Jasprit Bunrah (34*) combined to build an unbeaten 89-run stand for the ninth wicket as India’s lead was mounted up to 270. Tendulkar said that England bowlers were trying to scare India’s tail-enders with short balls but it didn’t work in their favour.

“If you can dismiss the top-order by bowling in good areas, why wouldn’t you try that with the tail-enders. I thought they were impatient and felt they wanted to scare them by bowling short but it actually was one of the reasons that triggered their motivation to stay at the crease and add those invaluable 100-odd runs,” Tendulkar said.

Also Read: India Will Win The Series 4-0 Or 3-1 As England Is A ‘Two And A Half Men’ Kind Of A Team, Reckons Sunil Gavaskar