Mumbai: Speaking on ‘Match Centre Live’ after the conclusion of the first session on Day 1 of the fifth Test, JioHotstar expert Varun Aaron reflected on KL Rahul’s dismissal:
“It was an opening batter’s masterclass. He might have just scored 14 runs, but I was drooling over the way he was batting. No matter what happened to the ball, he was just doing everything right, right up until the point he got out. Rahul thought this particular delivery was a good opportunity to score. He scored a lot of runs with a cut shot. But that ball came back a little bit. That’s why it found his inside edge. But KL Rahul will be very disappointed because he saw off the most difficult part of that innings, which was heavy overcast conditions, a very dicey wicket for an opening batsman. And then getting out like that, he’d be very disappointed because that ball was not a ball he should have gotten out to.”
Aaron on England’s bowling in the first session:
“England could have bowled a lot better. Even someone like Chris Woakes was not attacking the stumps too much and bringing that perfect length into play. They were quite short; they did challenge the outside edge and inside edge. But from the back of a length on a wicket like this, you have to be slightly fuller. You have to challenge the batsmen in and around the stump line. And the moment you go too short, you’re not going to get too many wickets. I feel England could have been a little more accurate. And England would not be very happy with just two wickets, but India is in a decent position.”
JioHotstar expert Sanjay Bangar on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dismissal:
“Generally, the sense is that when bowlers come around the wicket, batters tend to cover their stumps throughout. Now, the margin for error if you miss the ball is very, very small. That’s why I belong to the school of thought that you can get up to the middle stump. But if you start from the off stump and constantly look to cover it, then if you miss a straight one, you have no chance at all. That’s exactly what happened with Jaiswal.”
