Mark Butcher
Mark Butcher. Image-Twitter

Former England player Mark Butcher believes India was almost out of the game on Day 2 but the hosts let them back in due to some poor shots from the English batsmen. At one point, England was well on top at 222/6 but lost their way after Moeen Ali played a reckless shot.

Ollie Pope was looking at his best in his hometown while Moeen played a good support role. Once the ball was old and softened up, Indian bowlers couldn’t do much with it, and runs started to flow. In their quest to up the ante further, the duo fell at inopportune moments.

Ollie Pope
Ollie Pope looked in fine touch at his home ground. (Image: Twitter)

First, it was Moeen, who went for an ill-advised slog off Ravindra Jadeja only to hole out at extra cover. This opened the floodgates before Chris Woakes pushed England’s lead up to 99. Butcher felt the visitors had run out of ideas but England slipped at the wrong time.

It’s easy to forget they were five down for 60 but I think there was an occasion there towards the back end towards the lunch and tea break and onwards where India had ran out of ideas.”

Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow
Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow. (Credits: England Cricket Twitter)

They weren’t able to make the ball move so much, it was getting soft which they were complaining about and they couldn’t stem the flow of runs from Moeen Ali and Ollie Pope,” Mark Butcher said.

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“How can a guy with so many options often pick the wrong one?” – Mark Butcher on Moeen Ali

Butcher was unimpressed with the way the experienced all-rounder Moeen Ali fared in the innings. Having taken to settle, Moeen could have put the game beyond India’s reach within a few overs. But, he mistimed Jadeja’s delivery in a wild attempt to slog only to hole out.

England let them back in again and I’m not criticizing Moeen for trying to have a go at the left-arm spinner, he has the best strike-rate against spin of anybody in the world in white-ball cricket so he can take down the left-arm spinner.”

Moeen Ali
Moeen Ali (Image Credit: Twitter)

It’s the option that has blown people’s minds about Moeen Ali throughout his career. How can a guy who’s so good and with so many options often pick the wrong one?” Butcher added.

England eventually folded up for 290 on the back of Woakes’ late fifty. India had reached 43/0 at Stumps on Day 2, trailing the hosts by 56 runs.

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