England vs India 2018: Poor Shot Selection Against Moeen Ali Disappoints Harbhajan Singh

Overlooked India cricketer, Harbhajan Singh expressed his disappointment, as England bowler, Moeen Ali got into business to ran through the India batting on day two of the fourth Test at Southampton.

Meanwhile, Ali claimed a five-wicket haul to help the hosts peg back into the game. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara added 81 runs for the third wicket when the downslide began.

Rishabh Pant became the first prey for the off-spinner Moeen Ali to take the game to tea. Hardik Pandya (4) didn’t last long; he tried to work Moeen out of the footholes and succeeding only in popping the ball to Joe Root at short mid-wicket.

However, Harbhajan Singh believed Indian batsmen threw away their wickets, as Moeen Ali returned with two consecutive five-wicket hauls against India at this same venue.

“It’s sad the way our guys are giving away these wickets. They should have done better than this,” Harbhajan told TOI.

The Punjab-born cricketer, however, lauded Moeen Ali for using the footmark to great effect. England skipper, Joe Root has not taken Moeen Ali seriously, as he gave Adil Rashid a nod in the first three Test.

In fact, Moeen Ali played the first but only as a specialist batsman. However, he showed good variations on day two to halt the Indian batting order.

“He varied the pace beautifully and made the batsmen play all the time. The fact that there was a bit of rough outside the off-stump created by Ishant’s footmarks helped his case as well,” Harbhajan Singh went on add.

Harbhajan Singh disappointed with poor shots played

Singh also criticised the shot making of Ravichandran Ashwin and Hardik Pandya. Ashwin – so often a calm presence for India – tried an ambitious reverse-sweep to Moeen only to miss and get out on one.

“Those were really poor shots by Ashwin and Pandya. Not just me, they themselves will be disappointed with the shots they have played. If they had given themselves a bit more time, things would have been far easier,” Harbhajan Singh concluded.

England now trails by 21 runs in the second innings with ten wickets in hand with three days still to play.