He was also not happy with the Dukes balls getting soft after 30-odd overs leaving the bowlers struggling to contain the flow of runs, let alone getting any wickets
India's Akash Deep, right, and teammate Mohammed Siraj hold stumps as they celebrate after their win against England on day five of the second cricket test match at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England. Pic/AP, PTI
Two flat tracks and two different winners. That, in a nutshell, is the story of the five-match Test series thus far. The team that grabbed all 20 wickets won the high-scoring games. It was England’s bowlers to the fore in Headingley, Leeds, while India’s pacers, particularly Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, did it at Edgbaston.
India skipper Shubman Gill though is not a fan of the placid pitch on which he himself collected 430 runs. He wants more help for the bowlers and more challenges for the batters. He was also not happy with the Dukes balls getting soft after 30-odd overs leaving the bowlers struggling to contain the flow of runs, let alone getting any wickets.
“It gets very difficult for the bowlers, even more than the wicket, the ball is going soft and out of shape very quickly. I don’t know what it is — weather, wickets or whatever — but it gets very difficult for the bowlers to get wickets in these conditions. As a team, when you know it’s difficult to get wickets and runs are coming easily, a lot of things are out of your control,” Gill said at the post-match press conference here on Sunday.
Level playing field needed
“I think there should be a little help at least [for the bowlers]. If the ball is doing something, you enjoy playing, otherwise, if, as captain, you have to spend the rest of the day on the defensive, thinking how to stop runs, then the game loses its essence,” he added.
He even hoped that there would be a bit more grass for the third Test at Lord’s, where Jasprit Bumrah is set to return to the playing XI.
‘Akash was magnificent’
“The way we were able to get through the top order here, that was very important for us. Both the bowlers [Akash Deep and Siraj] bowled brilliantly. Even Prasidh, though he didn’t get as many wickets as them, he bowled brilliantly too. Akash Deep bowled with so much heart and in the [good] areas. With the lengths he hit, he was just getting the ball to move both ways. On wickets like these, it’s difficult to get the ball moving in both directions, but he was able to do it. He was just magnificent,” added Gill.
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