India's bowlers kept the pressure on the England batsmen, says Sunil Gavaskar

Currently, England is leading the five-match Test series with 2-1. The fourth Test at Southampton will be India's opportunity to level the difference created by England. Former Indian player Sunil Gavaskar, however, feels that Indian bowlers did a good job of keeping the English batsmen under pressure.

“India's bowlers kept the pressure on the England batsmen with another terrific performance to rattle their batsmen. Everybody who had a close look at the pitch said it was a beautiful looking pitch, perhaps the best they have seen so far in the series. The pitch had no part to play in the dismissals of the England batsmen as it was tremendous bowling by the Indian seamers that got the batsmen out,” Sunil Gavaskar wrote for TOI.

Further, he commented on the performance of English players. As per Gavaskar, Keaton Jennings was running low on confidence and his place in the team was questionable. Despite appreciating Alastair Cook’s performance, he said that he wasn't able to conclude his innings successfully.

“When the England squad was announced for the Test, there were questions asked about Keaton Jennings’ place. He shouldered arms to ball that nipped back slightly and showed how low he is on confidence,” he wrote.

“Alastair Cook looked better than he did in the earlier Tests and was moving his feet positively, but he got out to a poor shot after doing all the hard work. Joe Root is going through a rough patch where he is falling over to the off-side and thus ending up playing across the line to be out leg-before wicket. He had earlier escaped a similar dismissal when Bumrah overstepped again,” Gavaskar added.

Pointing out Bumrah's no-ball issues, Gavaskar said that he'll need to work on that as it becomes a matter of frustration for him and the team as well. Further, he acknowledged Mohammed Shami's contribution in the game.

“This is something that he has to work really hard at for it's not just frustrating for him individually, but annoying for the team too as they feel they have got a wicket only to be denied because the bowler has overstepped. For a fast bowler, having to bowl an extra delivery is also tiring work.

“Mohammed Shami has bowled well without getting the rewards and there was pressure on him to get the wickets. He responded by getting the crucial wicket of the previous Test match centurion Jos Buttler as he fell chasing an out-swinger to be caught by Kohli,” he wrote.