Morne Morkel
Credit: PTI Photo
London: Reenergised after dismissing centurion Harry Brook just before tea, the Indians came charging off the blocks in the final session, bagging the wickets of Jacob Bethell and Joe Root to turn the final Test against England on its head here on Sunday. England need another 35 runs with four wickets in hand on the final morning, but India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel felt if they can replicate the same pressure, they could complete the miraculous comeback.
“Think the series so far, there have been moments like that where it's sort of up and down and we finally managed to break the partnership (between Brook and Root), which was great and was important for us,” said Morkel at the press conference. “You feel for the new batter, it's quite tough to start, no matter if it's looking quite flat out there, and we managed to get a bit of something in the ball, which is great for the series so far, and unfortunately the rain came in and we have to come back tomorrow.”
Morkel said the team never gave up even when the chips were down. “You can't really afford to throw in the towel in a very important Test match, and for us it was key. Like I said, to break that partnership, get a new batter in, you know, we've seen it so many times before where if you get one you can easily get one or two and just create a bit of pressure around that, so I think it wasn't, you know, no hard words or no sort of big talk, it's just for us to stay calm and really work hard to break that partnership and from there, just to get the ball in the right area. Tomorrow we can just focus on doing a good warm-up, get the boys ready to hopefully get the ball in the right area and create a little bit of excitement again.”
Root said he was disappointed at not getting the job done but was confident of a win on Monday. “It was a bit of a disappointment not to still be there tonight and to get us home today. We're in a really good position, we've got a lot of batting left, two guys out there that are very capable of seeing us home.”
Root also said Chris Woakes, who injured his left shoulder while fielding on the opening day, will bat if the need arises.