India v England: Tourists need to be more ruthless, says Nasser Hussain
Sunday 27 November 2016 07:17, UK
Nasser Hussain has called for England to be more ruthless after a number of slack dismissals left them 268-8 at the end of day one of the third Test against India.
Alastair Cook won the toss in Mohali and chose to bat on a good surface, but the England captain was one of several batsmen guilty of giving their wicket away cheaply.
Such wickets, Hussain argued, could well cost England as batting gets more difficult later in the match.
"I don't think England were ruthless at all," he told Sky Sports. "I thought they were sloppy, there were a lot of soft dismissals in there. A lot of batsmen got in and got out.
"It will hurt them a bit now but when it will really hurt them is second time around when the ball is going up and down and starting to turn; a lot of batsmen will look at their 20s, 30s and 40s and think 'if only I'd got more when it was a lot easier.' They were soft today."
India too had their troubles on the first day, putting down four catches, but while their fielding left much to be desired, Hussain was impressed by the performances of the Indian bowlers and captain Virat Kohli.
"I thought India, apart from their fielding, were very good - their bowling and the captaincy was very good today," he added. "Put it the other way round, if England had lost the toss and had India 268-8 on that flat surface, they would be absolutely ecstatic, so England should be disappointed with their day.
"In the first session, in particular, India were sloppy in the field. The keeper made a couple of errors, if they'd got Jonny Bairstow early that would have been a big moment in the game but the drops were remedied pretty quickly.
"Cook was dropped and then Ashwin got him out soon after, Bairstow was dropped for the second time and was out the next ball so they caught up quickly."
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For all that, England will be frustrated not to have taken advantage of batting first in accommodating conditions and there were at least signs of encouragement for their bowlers.
"The one good thing for England is that it has reverse-swung very early - and proper reverse-swing - with the way Umesh Yadav was getting it to go late," Hussain said.
"Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes will be interested and James Anderson will be keen as well. So there is enough there but it will need the bowlers to get the batsmen out of trouble again.
"I think it'll be like every other pitch here where everyone is expecting it turn quickly - it'll turn eventually. It was absolutely fine today, I think three balls turned, it'll be fine tomorrow, the odd ball will get lower and lower and then on day three and four progressively it will turn more, like most pitches in India.
"They're never minefields here so get [runs] in the first innings. England are still in the game but have missed an opportunity."
Watch coverage of day two of the third Test between India and England in Mohali from 3.45am on Sunday, live on Sky Sports 2.
