Ahead of the final fixture in the five-match Test series between India vs England taking place at Dharamsala, former England captain Michael Vaughan looked back at the series and saw the batting as the reason for their series defeat.
In his column for the Telegraph, Vaughan went in-depth on England’s shortcomings with the bat and sees the final match as a big one for the batters. The former skipper wrote, “When we think of this England team, we think of their wonderfully dynamic batting. But when you look at why they haven’t won any of their last three series, it’s down to the batting”.
He even questioned why there isn’t much noise around the English batters who have been underperforming in the series. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett are the highest run-scorers for the side with 342 and 328 runs respectively in the five-match affair.
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“There never seems to be much scrutiny or noise around England’s batsmen. Even last week I chuckled. They lost in Ranchi in large part because they didn’t bat well enough, but there was lots of finger-pointing at Ollie Robinson, a bowler who scored an important half-century,” Vaughan added.
The former England batter sees a change in the batting order coming up after the series with Harry Brook returning to the side. He emphasised the importance of Brook and sees him as the foundation of their batting unit alongside the senior man Joe Root.
Vaughan added, “He has to bat at No. 5 because he should be the bedrock of their batting with Joe Root. Does that mean England’s statement moment is coming? Consistency of selection is such a fine balance in team sports”.
He was also critical of the side not making much change to their batting despite the underperformance and called for a change following their loss against India. One batter that has been under pressure is Jonny Bairstow who has failed to capitalise on his starts in India and is yet to rack up a fifty-plus score.
“Jonny Bairstow plays his 100th Test in Dharamsala and I am delighted about that. It’s a great triumph of resilience and, even in terms of sentiment, I believe that if you get to 99 caps you deserve the moment of your 100th. However, you can’t escape that he could miss out on his 101st. He hasn’t played well enough across the 10 Tests he’s been back in the side, especially in India,” highlighted Vaughan.
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He went on to make a bold statement saying that England needs a reality check for the fact that Tests are a game of two innings and it is simply not enough to play well in one and poorly in the other.
“In times gone by, being ahead on first innings just about won you the game, but teams fear chasing less now and can turn games around more easily. Ultimately, the game is about winning and England are struggling to do that against the very best sides,” Vaughan concluded.
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