ENG vs IND | Don't write off England yet, they played lot of good cricket at Lord's, asserts Nasser Hussain

08/19/2021

Former English skipper Nasser Hussain has warned people from writing off England for the remainder of the Test series against India and stated that they did play a lot of good cricket at Lord's. He also had words of praise for all-rounder Ollie Robinson and reckoned that he's the find for England.

The Lord's Test between India and England turned out to be a cliffhanger with constant twists and turns over five days. Throughout the game, the hosts were able to pull back the game after being cornered by India, barring the final day where they completely lost the plot. England were able to restrict India's first innings to 364 after the tourists were 267-2 once. Similarly, in their first innings, they were able to score 391 runs after being reduced to 23-2.

At the start of the fifth and final day, they were in control with India tottering at 209-8 before Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah stole the show and set a target of 272 runs. From there on, England couldn't fight back in the game, and their fragile batting was exposed by the Indian bowlers as they bundled them out for 120 runs in 51.5 overs. England are missing the services of Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer in the series, and after the first two Tests, most of the experts have predicted that they will fail to make a comeback in the series.

But former English skipper and renowned cricket expert Nasser Hussain has reminded one and all that England did play some good cricket at Lord's and that shouldn't be overlooked.

"England did play a lot of good cricket at Lord's, let's not forget that. When Rishabh Pant was walking off on Monday we all thought it could be 1-0 to England. India do have frailties in their batting. But England can't win Tests with just one player in Root getting runs. So let's not write them off just yet, but they desperately need others to score runs," Hussain stated.

Ollie Robinson has been a great performer for England in what has been a short Test career so far. He has taken 16 wickets in three Tests at 20.31 and has averaged 14.4 with the bat. The English cricket expert termed him the find for England.

"Robinson has been an incredible find when there have been so many injuries to bowlers," he added.

India and England will face each other in the third Test at Headingley on August 25. India have a lead of 1-0 in the five-match Test series.