Surprised by Team India’s abject submission in-front of England in the second Test at Lord’s, former English captain Nasser Hussain called it a “men against boys” kind of a match while also urging the beleaguered visitors’ batting line-up to dig deep in the crease.
“England are arguably the best in the world in these conditions but the real eye has to be on India – they have to be wary of the wheels completely falling off. India is No 1 in the world and it was meant to be a gun, tight series but at the moment it is men against boys. Their curve is going in the wrong direction,” said Hussain to Sky Sports at the end of the second match at Lord’s.
India suffered a humiliating defeat by an innings and 159 runs at Lord’s bowling out twice within 82 overs. “India have been bundled out for 162, 107 and 130 in their last three innings,” said the former England skipper.
“They were in the game for a long time in the last Test (at Edgbaston) but the back injury to Kohli is a concern, the fingers of (Ravichandran) Ashwin took a blow, the rest of their batting line-up continues to fail and there are no practice games in between.”
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He added that the Indian batsmen needed to dig deep in their crease, while also sending out a warning that there will be no let-up from the English side at Trent Bridge, the venue for the third Test.
“They have got to dig really deep – there are some really good cricketers in that dressing room and they have to come out fighting. I don’t think it will be as tough as this – they can draw on the fact it’s been as hard as it can be – but Trent Bridge does a bit. (James) Anderson will be a threat, (Stuart) Broad got 8-15 there against Australia – these England players have fond memories, so it won’t get that much easier.”
Hussain also stated that it is payback time for England after the 4-0 whitewash in 2016. They will give everything back and not let anything slip by despite being in a commanding position.
“This is payback time a little bit for England after losing 4-0 in India and I don’t see them letting up. I have seen that they are a hungry team. They won’t rest on their laurels, they want to get better and better.”