Harbhajan Singh said England’s batting seems to have more problems than India’s after Virat Kohli’s tourists won the Trent Bridge Test by 203 runs on Wednesday.
India had lost the first two Tests of the five-match series at Edgbaston and Lord’s and their batsmen had come under the scanner. Barring Virat Kohli, none of India’s batsmen put up a fight. In the first Test, Kohli scored 200 runs but India failed to chase down 194.
At Lord’s, in conditions that clearly favoured England’s pacers, India were blown away in both innings, crashing to an innings defeat.
At Trent Bridge, however, it was a different story. Kohli led from the front again with scores of 97 and 103, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul were brilliant against the new ball while Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara scored gutsy half-centuries.
On the other hand, England’s batsmen were all at sea against India’s pace attack. In the first innings, Hardik Pandya took his maiden five-wicket haul while Jasprit Bumrah scriped India’s seventh Test victory in England with a five-wicket haul in the second innings.
Harbhajan said England’s batsmen were now looking vulnerable against both pace and spin.
“The English batting line-up looks more problematic than the Indian batting at the moment. They are playing as if they are touring India, and not the other way round,” Harbhajan told PTI in an interview.
“Their batting line-up is more vulnerable to both pace and spin, and they look weak. Some of their first-choice batsmen have an ordinary record in domestic cricket, averaging 30-35 at best.
“In India, you have to average over 50 to be even considered. They have good depth in ODI cricket but in Tests, their batting has not done much,” he further said.
Harbhajan, who has taken 417 wickets from 103 Tests, said India now have a good chance of winning the series.
“After such a performance I back India to win the next Test in Southampton, and then anything can happen in the Oval Test. At the Oval, we could get a true Indian wicket with lot of bounce and the lateral movement is less there as well,” he said. “So, conditions could favour India and we could even play two spinners. I think India have a very good chance (of winning the series 3-2).”
