"He missed a trick..." - Steven Finn slams Rohit Sharma for poor captaincy on Day 2 of Rajkot Test

Former England pacer Steven Finn, who was a part of the England squad under the captaincy of Sir Alastair Cook which still remains as the last team to beat India away from home in a red-ball series back in 2012, lashed out on India skipper Rohit Sharma for using poor tactics with his bowling changes, specifically for not handing either of Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja the new ball during England’s 1st innings with the bat on day 2.

Steven Finn made this comment in light of England’s opening pair – Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley – getting off to yet another Bazball kind of a start. Finn claimed that the visitors wouldn’t have gotten off to such a start if Rohit Sharma was wise enough to keep Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj out of the attack in the initial stages of England’s innings.

The criticism was so much that Finn even suggested Rohit to sit down with the analysts as well as the team management to improve his decision-making with his introductions of bowlers. Finn did not mention a single word about Rohit’s crucial 131 knock in the 1st innings and rather claimed that he missed a trick.

“I think Rohit Sharma will be up with the analyst working out when he introduces his bowlers and who against. I think he missed a trick by not bringing on Ashwin and Jadeja earlier on today. India will come back refreshed tomorrow,” Steven Finn said via Sky Sports Cricket.

For a fact, Finn might have made a good point as well because Ben Duckett has always struggled against quality spinners, especially when it comes to facing Ravichandran Ashwin who claimed his 500th Test scalp by removing Zak Crawley cheaply for just 15 runs.

But there was no stopping Duckett yesterday as he came in well-prepared against the spinners and his attacking intent against pacers was as it was in the first two Tests. Although the left-hand batter has eventually lost his wicket in the first session of day 3 against wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, but he has certainly set the tone by scoring 153 off 151 at a strike rate of 101.

After Finn, Ravichandran Ashwin also makes the same claim about Rohit Sharma’s reluctancy to give him the new ball

While speaking to the press yesterday at the Niranjan Shah stadium after grabbing his 500th Test scalp, Ravi Ashwin too was critical about Rohit Sharma not giving him the new ball when Duckett was batting at 0. The veteran claimed that spin doesn’t really work when a batter like Duckett is already playing at 60-70 before praising him as one of England’s most exclusive talents.

“I would have really like to bowl at him when he was at 0 and not at 60-70 runs. He is a very different player to bowl at when he is at 60-70 runs for sure. A couple of slog sweeps that he hit were really special. But again, Ben Duckett is a phenomenal talent for England, he has made a wonderful hundred today,” Ashwin said during the press conference.