Former England captain Michael Vaughan on Saturday criticized the England team for their approach against India in the fifth Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham for the third day on Saturday. Vaughan feels Ben Stokes’ side opted for the wrong approach with the bat. He felt that the English side should have taken a defensive approach.
“England got it completely wrong this morning. I’m a big fan of Ben Stokes and Baz (Brendon) McCullum. I love inventive, creative and out-of-the-box thinking. But that’s when the pitch comes in. Be flat and the circumstances are not in your favor,” said Michael Vaughan in a conversation with Cricbuzz.
India consolidated their stronghold in the fifth Test, taking a massive 132-run lead and expanding it to 169 at tea. After Mohammad Siraj took four wickets, while Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets to bowl England out for 284 in 61.3 overs, with Jonny Bairstow scoring a belligerent 106, India lost Shubman Gill cheaply. But Cheteshwar Pujara (17 not out) and Hanuma Vihari (10 not out) shared a 33-run partnership to take India to 37/1 in 13 overs.
“At Edgbaston, the clouds were all around. You just had to hit the top of the off-stump. You have Broad and (James) Anderson, two great players of the game, bowling to Jasprit Bumrah, who is batting a little bit. May be a little bit. They decide to go short with all the fields. It was very similar to last year at Lord’s. I can’t believe they haven’t learned from what happened at Lord’s,” said England’s The former captain said.
“In the Bazzball era, with 25 minutes left to send a night watchman, I suddenly thought – where did this come from? I was hoping Ben Stokes would go over there and play some shots. He’s committed to aggressive cricket. Can’t go all of a sudden – wait, we have to be safe. They played safe in the morning too,” said Vaughan.