The veteran English commentator, David Lloyd has joined the bandwagon of former England cricketers, who are criticising Joe Root and his men after suffering a huge defeat by 151 runs against India at the iconic Lord’s. The visitors have now take a 1-0 lead after winning the second Test of the five-match series.
Talking about the same during a recent chat with Daily Mail, David Lloyd said, “They were spooked by India in this Test and Virat Kohli was all over them like a cheap suit. They couldn’t cope. So now they have to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in.”
India’s pace quartet of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami wreaked havoc in the English camp as they managed to bundle out the hosts for a meager score of 120 while chasing a target of 272 on the final day. Resuming on an overnight score of 181 for 6, India lost Rishabh Pant (22) and Ishant Sharma (16) early, however, Shami (56 not out) and Bumrah (34 not out) managed to survive the first session and ended up adding 89 runs for the unbeaten 9th wicket partnership which helped India to declare just after Lunch on Day 5.
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Talking about the same, David Lloyd explained, “Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri knew they could get under England’s skin. England were too meek and mild. They didn’t have enough leaders to say: ”Right, we’ll go right back at them.”
He further added, “Think back to 2005 and that wonderful Australian team. Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher told England to get stuck into them and it worked. They didn’t take a backward step and that’s what I’d expect now. We were wimps at Lord’s!”
England has dropped out-of-form opener Dom Sibley and they have included Dawid Malan for the third Test against India at Headingley, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Wednesday.
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Sibley, who has scored just a single Test fifty in his last 15 innings, scored 11 and 0 in the second Test at Lord’s, intensifying calls for his ouster.
