India vs England 2021: “He always looks to me like he’s 20 years older than he really is” – Mark Butcher criticizes Ravichandran Ashwin’s fielding

India vs England 2021: “He always looks to me like he’s 20 years older than he really is” – Mark Butcher criticizes Ravichandran Ashwin’s fielding
Ravichandran Ashwin celebrates a wicket on Day 2 of the first Test

England piled on the runs on Day 2 of the first Test against India in Chennai to frustrate the bowlers and finish on 555/8. Joe Root continued from where he left off on Day 1 to get to his double-century, in the process becoming the first cricketer ever to score a double hundred on his 100th Test. Ben Stokes contributed with a quick 82 while the rest came up with handy knocks as well.

For India, the fielding wasn’t up to the mark as was their choice of reviews. They were guilty of dropping quite a few catches with a drop of Dom Bess from Rohit Sharma off Washington Sundar’s bowling being the highlight. Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara dropped fairly difficult chances as well meaning the English batters rode their luck to keep taking risks to score big.

‘You’re going to have to take the chances’ – Butcher

Mark Butcher

Former England batsman Mark Butcher criticized Ashwin for dropping Ben Stokes’ catch during the lunch interval show on Star Sports and said, “Catch those. That’s the issue. He managed to beat Stokes a couple of times off the flat part of the wicket. Didn’t need the rough for that but you’re going to need a little more assistance to put a batsman like Ben Stokes under pressure. When he does give you a chance, you’re going to have to take it.”

“Ashwin’s not the best mover in the Indian side. He always looks to me like he’s 20 years older than he is really is sometimes out there on the field. And he’s bowled a lot of overs, he’s looking a little bit tired and that’s the chance you desperately want to hang on to,” Butcher added.

“The thing that ended up being the case for India is that they were going to hope that Ben Stokes did something wrong and gave him a chance. Stokes was aiming it to the left of screen and it ended up going up right,” he further said.

England will resume on 555/8 on Day 3 of the first Test tomorrow.

Also Read: India vs England 2021: “This aged well” – Andrew Flintoff responds to an old tweet from Amitabh Bachchan after Joe Root’s double hundred