Headingley, the locals will tell you, is very much a ‘look up’ ground. The pitch is fine on most days if you can survive the sessions when ...
Headingley, the locals will tell you, is very much a ‘look up’ ground. The pitch is fine on most days if you can survive the sessions when the clouds come rolling in. Indian skipper Virat Kohli would have known this no doubt but perhaps he had faith in his batsmen; faith that proved to be their undoing.
At the toss, Kohli looked down, saw a pitch, and said, “Looks firm and without grass and runs on the board will be crucial to set this Test match up,” while Joe Root looked up, “There’s a bit of cloud cover and it’s tacky, and it’ll get better and better for batting eventually. Quite happy to lose the toss.”
The cloud cover meant that England’s bowlers could come out swinging and James Anderson led the way with a brilliant first spell of 8-5-6-3 as India were knocked out for 78 — their third-lowest total in England and ninth-lowest overall.
Anderson led the way and Ollie Robinson (2/16), Craig Overton and Sam Curran (3/27) all did their part. But one can’t help but feel that while England executed their plans perfectly, India went about chasing disaster with the intent that Kohli demands for every other facet of the game
To illustrate the...
