India vs England 2021: “We’ve got a bit of an upper hand due to Ishant Sharma’s late wickets,” says Shahbaz Nadeem
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The England batters continued to make merry on Day 2 of the first Test against India in Chennai as they reached a huge total of 555/8. Skipper Joe Root carried on from his hundred on the previous day to get to his double hundred. He received terrific support from Ben Stokes who looked set for a century before getting out for 82. The rest of the English batters also came up with handy contributions to boost the score.
The Indian bowlers struggled to pick up wickets but in the final session, the floodgates opened a bit. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem who was picked in the line-up after Axar Patel suffered an injury dismissed the well-set duo of Stokes and Root. He first had Stokes caught while the all-rounder was trying to accelerate the run-rate by going for a slog before trapping the English skipper in front while he was batting on 218.
‘Every spinner faces a problem when the batsmen start sweeping’
Shahbaz Nadeem addressed a virtual press conference at the end of Day 2 and spoke about Joe Root’s innings saying, “Joe Root is really a good player and looking at the recent outing he has been in red hot form. He is sweeping very well so if you are bowling to him, you have to come up with plans like a bowl at stumps and not pitch the ball outside the line of the stumps. Every spinner faces some problem when the batsmen start sweeping the ball but at the same time, you have to stick with your line and length. Wait for your time, wait for the batsmen to make a mistake.”
Speaking about getting into the playing XI, he said, “I was in the stand-in squad and had got a hint a day before the first that I might get a chance to feature in the playing XI. So I was mentally prepared for the game.”
He then spoke of the wickets picked by Ishant Sharma towards the end of the day’s play and said, “Ishant’s two wickets were very crucial as he dismissed Buttler and Archer. He took wickets on successive deliveries and this kind of performance obviously uplifts the morale of the side. So I feel those two wickets were important for us as if we did not get those two wickets there would have been a batsman on the crease rather than tailenders. Now, two England bowlers are on the crease, so we can say we have got an upper hand.”
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Nevin Clinton
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