Sanjay Manjrekar
Day 5 of the third Test between India and England promises to be a mouth-watering affair at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground as both teams look to take the lead in the five-match series. India need another 135 runs to emerge victorious but they only have six wickets in hand.
After England were bowled out for 192 in their second innings, India had to chase down a 193-run target and many experts reckoned that the tourists were the favourites to get the win. However, England have been exemplary with their bowling and field placements to have India at 58/4 at Stumps on Day 4.
While some balls have misbehaved, staying up and down, the surface has generally not been a difficult one for batters who are willing to play with a proactive approach. While this will give India some confidence, the fact that the ball is not too old should keep England interested.
Sanjay Manjrekar said that India were the favourites at the end of Day 3 but the tables have turned in favour of England heading into Day 5. The former India batter feels that if England have to bowl Shoaib Bashir, India could have a very good chance of winning the match. Manjrekar mentioned that the young Indian batters would have to be in a good space mentally to help the visitors get the win.
“Yesterday, I firmly believed that there was no way India could lose this match. The only loser possible was England and a drawn scenario. But I believe now England are favorites. I would say 70-30 in England’s favor, only because this ball is still hard and new. We saw what happened in that morning session when India bowled on that pitch. This pitch reacts to the new ball,” Manjrekar said during a discussion on ESPNcricinfo.
“If England are forced to go to Shoaib Bashir, it means India is winning the game. That will happen only if Pant and KL Rahul bat out of their skins. I only worry with one aspect. Because this young batting line-up has done so much of batting, the mental reserves of their batting has been tapped into so heavily, this effort is going to be a mental effort. The target is small, so there will be a huge temptation to take the additional risk. I just want India to grind away and get to the target,” the former batter concluded.
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