England opener Zak Crawley has given some air to what the visitors have planned to counter Indian spin twins Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, who routed them under two days in the third Test in Ahmedabad.
Axar had picked 11 wickets, while Ashwin picked 7 wickets in the third Test against England on a rank turner in Motera and knocked out England from the race of the final’s qualification of the ICC World Test Championship.
Zak Crawley. Image-Twitter.
Ahead of the fourth Test match, Crawley, who played his first Test in Ahmedabad, after coming back to the field after sustaining a wrist injury, revealed that the England batsmen will look to be more proactive if the pitch plays the same way it did in the last Test.
It Depends On How The Ball Plays: Says Zak Crawley
Zak Crawley mentioned that the England batsmen will stick to the basics of the game if the red ball doesn’t move as much as the pink one did in the last game. Else, they would need to become more proactive in countering the threat of Indian spinners.
“It depends on how the ball plays. It will be a different ball so it might not do as much in which case you don’t have to change too much and play your natural game. Obviously, if it looks like it’s going to be just as tricky and it plays the same way, with one skidding and one turning, then we will need to be a bit proactive perhaps.
It’s difficult at times but now we have a chance to reflect on the last game and if it plays the same we will play a lot more proactively,” said Zack Crawley in a press conference on Tuesday.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel have accounted for 33 wickets in Ahmedabad and Chennai, including four 5-wicket hauls between them.
Axar Patel Doesn’t Give You Much To Score: Zak Crawley
Crawley, who was the only Englishman to score a half-century in the pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad, was all praises for the Indian spinner Axar Patel, who had picked three fifers in his first two Test matches, having made his debut in the second Test in Chennai.
Axar Patel gets the danger man Zak Crawley [Image Credit: BCCI]The left-arm off-spinner had dismissed Zak Crawley in both the innings in Ahmedabad.
“He is a very good bowler. Especially in these conditions, he is very accurate and he doesn’t give you much to score. He has got one that goes straight on in these conditions and one that turns. So he is a very good bowler but we have played some good bowlers in this series and managed to score and win some Test matches so there’s no reason we can’t do that again in this Test,” signed off Zak Crawley.
Also Read: Ajinkya Rahane Echoes Ishant Sharma’s Comments On Winning WTC Feeling Like A World Cup Victory
