Monday 19 December 2016 06:22, UK
England must be aggressive in their pursuit of wickets on day four of the fifth Test, according to Sir Ian Botham.
The tourists endured a tough day in the field in Chennai, picking up just four wickets, as India's batsmen made the most of a flat surface to close on 391-4.
With so little in the pitch to offer encouragement to the bowlers, Botham believes they need to take a different approach tomorrow.
"You can't complain too much about England today - they stuck to their task but it's very difficult to take wickets over here," he told Sky Sports. "You'd expect this pitch to do more than it has done and to be honest, you could land aircraft on this one. It's still a belter.
"I presume England will open with seam tomorrow and they have to be aggressive. We could have attacked KL Rahul today and really gone at him with the short ball but we didn't.
"He didn't want to play anything short. So you could have brought the man up to leg gully or even another orthodox gully and gone at him for half an hour, with Ben Stokes in particular.
"England might want to try and rough someone up tomorrow, make them feel uncomfortable; you've got to find a way to get under India's skin."
India look in a good position to take a first-innings lead, trailing England by just 86 with six wickets in hand, but Botham - given the state of the pitch - refutes the idea that it could lead to a situation similar to Mumbai in which England were quickly under pressure in the second innings after the hosts had piled on the runs.
"We're not seeing anything evil with this pitch, it really hasn't changed," he said. "I've just walked past it and there is nothing that is going to set off any alarm bells. It is one of the flattest and deadest pitches I've ever seen.
"At the end of the day, England still have a lead and it will probably take India until early in the afternoon session to get ahead and then they'll want a lead. When do you declare on this? How long do you want to bowl?
"I see it as very difficult for any side to win it now on this surface but if England have a great morning then, who knows? They could turn it around but you've still got to get 10 wickets in the final innings."
Watch day four of the fifth Test between India and England in Chennai, live on Sky Sports 2 from 3.45am on Monday.
