Brendon McCullum's quick thinking helps England punish Indian tailenders

During the first session of the fourth day in the ongoing Test against India at Edgbaston, England head coach Brendon McCullum signalled his bowlers to use the short-ball ploy against the Indian batters, which worked wonders for the home side. 

To note, India resumed their innings on a positive note as the two unbeaten batters, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant, added 28 more runs to their partnership in the first hour. After Broad dismissed Pujara, Shreyas Iyer joined hands with Rishabh Pant in the middle and got off the mark with a couple of confident shots through the offside. 

Seeing his side struggling to get the breakthrough, McCullum signalled his men to attack Iyer's body with short-pitched deliveries. This ploy by the former Blackcaps skipper proved to be instrumental for the Englishmen in dismissing Iyer and triggering India's collapse. 

England's pace sensation Matty Potts caused all sorts of problems for Iyer with the short ball, finally inducing a miscued shot from him, which Anderson caught at short midwicket. This success prompted the English seamers to continuously target the body of the Indian tailenders, which fetched them the vital wickets of Thakur, Shami, and skipper Bumrah. 

The quick-thinking by McCullum speaks volumes about the brilliant cricketing brain the man possesses. He was well aware of Iyer's weakness against the short-pitched deliveries, so he asked his bowlers to target the Mumbai batter's body as soon as he entered the middle. 

More importantly, he made them realize the effectiveness of bodyline bowling on the unresponsive Edgbaston deck, thereby proving his worth as the team's coach for the umpteenth time.