Former England captain Andrew Strauss has made a bold statement and has said that the English batsmen are “not good enough” to play in the Indian conditions. The visitors were bundled out for 205 in the first innings of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
“Let’s not hide away from the truth. England’s batting quite frankly is not good enough in these conditions,” Strauss was quoted as saying by ‘Channel 4’.
“You can talk about the pitch and about the ball and about anything else, but you have to find a way to score first innings runs and they have got very few to play with.”
Talking about the mindset, Strauss said that the batsmen are committing the similar mistakes that they have throughout the series.
“England are making the same mistakes they have made throughout the whole series. The non-turning ball has left them non-plussed.”
While England managed to score 205 on Day 1, India ended the day’s proceedings at 24/1. Stokes top-scored for England with 55 while it was Axar Patel and R Ashwin once again who dominated with the ball for India.
Patel scalped a four-wicket haul while Ashwin bagged three wickets during the course.
The home side leads the four-match series 2-1 and needs to either win or draw this final clash in Ahmedabad to register a place in the WTC final to be played against New Zealand at Lord’s.
But if India suffer a defeat in this match then Australia will march into the finals to face the Blackcaps.