Hussain praises Root for getting it right in Headingley Test

Leeds, Aug 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Former England captain Nasser Hussain said that England captain Joe Root had an excellent day in the field on the first day of the third Test. He added that as a bowling unit, England learned from their mistakes at Lords.

"Joe Root had an excellent day in the field, starting with keeping Anderson on for a long spell so that he could have another go at Kohli. Eight overs is a lot for a 39-year-old in such a congested series but it paid off - as did Root's decision to hold Anderson back in the afternoon when Sam Curran and Craig Overton were taking wickets," wrote Hussain in his column for Daily Mail on Thursday.

Anderson was the pick of the pace quartet for England, taking the wickets of the top three of I'dia's batting for just six runs in eight overs. Craig Overton took three wickets for 14 runs in 10.4 overs while Ollie Robinson and Sam Curran scalped two wickets each.

"Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone gets it wrong at times and there's no doubt England and Joe Root got it badly wrong on that fateful final morning at Lord's. But the best thing about their bowling performance on day one was how much they learnt from that mistake," added Hussain.

The 53-year-old described how England corrected their mistake at Headingley. "I do understand why they got it so wrong in the second Test. It was because their main man in Jimmy Anderson was targeted by Jasprit Bumrah on that third evening and you have to allow for the emotion that got to them. Here they corrected it spectacularly."

"Here England realised the way they were bowling was good enough to dismiss Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, two of the greats in world cricket, so it was good enough to send back Shami and Mohammed Siraj. That meant bowling top of off stump repeatedly," explained Hussain.

He talked about'how England's pace quartet followed a plan and executed the same. "The key at Headingley is bowling the right length. That means 30 centimetres fuller than at most other grounds because the ball can do too much and miss the edge of the bat if you hit that back of a length that can be so effective elsewhere."

At stumps on day one, England are 120/0 and lead by 42 runs. Openers Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns are unbeaten at 60 and 52 respectively after India were bowled out for just 78 in 40.4 overs.

Source: IANS