I Would Have Declared The Innings A Couple Of Overs Before Lunch: Sachin Tendulkar

Indian legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar said that if he would have possibly declared the innings a couple of overs earlier before the lunch to put the England openers in a tricky situation.

On the start of Day 5, England looked in control to win the second Test at Lord’s after they got the early wickets of Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma but Indian tail-enders Mohammed Shami (56*) and Jasprit Bumrah (34*) fired with a gritty partnership of 89 runs to escalate India’s lead to 270.

Post lunch, Indian skipper Virat Kohli declared their innings after a few overs were bowled and Tendulkar said he would have preferred to call them before the lunch as the openers would have rushed to the batting crease, which makes them exhausted partially.

I Would have declared the innings a couple of overs before lunch: Sachin Tendulkar

“Ya, possibly yes. If I was there, I would have got them in maybe for a couple of overs before lunch, so the openers would have to go up and down, it’s quite a walk up to the dressing room, so the openers have to go up, get ready quickly, rush down and play two overs and then again go and come back. So that kind of mindset, no opener likes to do that. I would have possibly done that and in case there was a partnership, one would have got maybe those three-four extra overs,” Tendulkar said in a video he recorded, as reported by Times of India.

“But Virat had different plans. On a lighter note, you saw what happened to both openers, right? Uppar neeche jaake thoda saans chadd gaya tha, dono zero pe out huye. (The going up and down seems to have got to the openers, they must have been panting somewhat and both were dismissed for zero),” he added.

Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah’s partnership changed the game: Sachin Tendulkar

In the Nottingham Test, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah added some late runs down the innings and the latter was once again seen swinging his bat at Lord’s. Bumrah countered the short balls bowled at him by England bowlers. Tendulkar said the partnership between Bumrah and Shami changed the phase of the match.

“See in both Test matches, our tailenders have batted well. In the first Test match, Jadeja was there and if you remember, I had posted a tweet saying Bumrah has played the shot of his life when he pulled Sam Curran over square leg for a six (in Nottingham). Brilliant shot that was,” Sachin Tendulkar said.

“But at Lord’s, that partnership, lower order added around 100 plus runs, that changed the game. On the fourth evening, who would have thought that we are going to retrieve 270 and then put the pressure back on the English team and close the game so emphatically. I thought it was magnificent to watch that aggression, spring in their legs was something, fast bowlers charging in, eye to eye contact, and hostility.

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