LONDON, Sep 6: Former England captain Nasser Hussain said that captain Joe Root’s tactics on a flat pitch on day four at The Oval were mystifying. He added that instead of bowling Moeen Ali more, Root persisted with James Anderson and Ollie Robinson.
“I was mystified by Joe Root’s tactics between lunch and tea. On a flat pitch, and on the fourth afternoon – probably the hottest of the series – every other team in the world would have been bowling their frontline spinner. Instead, Root kept flogging seamers Anderson and Ollie Robinson, who have been going hard at India all series. Whether he had lost some faith in Moeen because he was going at four an over, I don’t know,” wrote Hussain in his column for Daily Mail on Monday.
Hussain commented that any other team would have bowled their main spinner more in similar conditions.
When India came out to bowl in the final session, Ravindra Jadeja’s slow left-armers were introduced into the attack as early as the eighth over.
“Sure enough, his (Jadeja’s) first ball spun from the rough outside Burns’s off stump. If you’re the spinner in this side, you should be doing a job for your captain on the fourth afternoon. It’s as simple as that.”
Hussain revealed that he had a chat with Anderson and felt that conditions were more ripe for a spinner to be given the ball.
The 53-year-old concluded by saying, “And when Root finally gave Moeen and himself a trundle, they struck immediately, in successive overs. On an extremely flat Oval pitch, they needed their captain and their No 1 spinner to be on top of their games – and neither quite managed it.” (IANS)
