Nasser Hussain, Keaton Jennings
Nasser Hussain. Image Courtesy: Getty Images

Nasser Hussain, former England captain, has reckoned that England batsmen should treat Pakistan’s leg spinner Yasir Shah as Indian legend Anil Kumble rather than the Australian magician Shane Warne while playing him in the first innings of a Test match.

England have a lot of cricket coming up in the sub-continent in the upcoming winter when they travel to Sri Lanka and India for Test assignments and Hussain believes that England must learn from how they play Yasir Shah in the ongoing series.

“England have a winter of Test cricket in sub-continental conditions coming up against Sri Lanka and India, if those tours go ahead, so they must learn from how they are playing Yasir Shah here,” Hussain wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.

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‘They are playing him as if he were Shane Warne’- Nasser  Hussain on how England batsmen are playing Yasir Shah

Nasser Hussain, Yasir Shah
Yasir Shah. Credits: Twitter.

England, on the back of an unbeaten 200+ stand between Zak Crawley [171*] and Jos Buttler [87*] asserted themselves into a position of dominance on the opening day of the third Test but their batsmen, especially Ollie Pope, struggled against the vile Yasir Shah.

Hussain reckoned that England batsman are getting stuck on the crease while playing Yasir Shah. He added that since Shah does not rely on turning the ball massively in the first innings, England batsmen must play him like they are batting against Anil Kumble, who also relied on varying his pace and setting the batsmen up.

“For some reason, whether it is Joe Root or Ollie Pope, England have been going back to the leg-spinner and getting stuck on the crease. They are playing him as if he were Shane Warne but, in the first innings of a Test, they should play him more like Anil Kumble,” Nasser Hussain added.

”Yasir will not bowl massive, turning deliveries on the first day. Instead, he has been setting batsmen up by going slow, slow and then producing a quicker, straighter delivery,” he said.

One prime example of what Nasser Hussain alluded to was the dismissal of Ollie Pope on the first day when he was pinned on his crease before getting his stumps getting knocked over courtesy a quicker one from Yasir Shah.

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