Ranchi: Zak Crawley didn’t seem in the least affected by the fact that he was bowled looking to take on the Indian bowlers, saying he had to go for his shots rather than wait for one with his name on it.
Joe Root, on the contrary, chose a more old-school, wait-and-watch approach. Crawley ended with 42 runs from 42 balls. Root ended the day on 106 not out from 226 balls.
“He’s the only player in the team who could have played that innings,” noted Crawley. “I had to play my shots because after getting out to the no-ball (off Akash Deep), I decided to go on the offensive because I saw little point in letting the bowlers dictate my tempo.”
That Crawley push resulted in three fours and a six off a Siraj over, but Deep managed to dismiss him with a delivery which jagged in sharply off the seam and into the stumps.
“The ball was nipping about a lot, and it was quick too. The situation definitely required more caution because of the variable bounce,” he said. “Akash bowled very well given the conditions. He kept it simple and landed it in all the right areas. He’s faster than I thought he was. He ran in hard and got the ball to jag in a fair bit. It was tough facing him.”
When asked about Root and if the former England skipper had made a conscious decision to adopt a more orthodox style of batting, Crawley said: "I don’t know to be honest. I reckon if the pitch had been truer, he would have still played his shots and got the runs, but because the ball was doing a bit and there was some variable bounce going on, he chose not to. It was too inconsistent. In Dharamsala, if the pitch plays true, I fully expect him to reverse ramp one. That’s just Joey. He’s very present when he bats.”
Published 23 February 2024, 16:27 IST