Veteran England Pacer James Anderson spoke about the game situation at the end of Day 3. He said India were nervous and cautious even after taking a big lead in the second innings at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam.
The second Test between India and England remains balanced at the end of Day 3. Both teams had their moments in their game as they collaborated time and again and left no stone unturned to be on top of the game.
India in their second innings scored a total of 255 runs and set a target of 399 runs. The focus would have been more on the way the pitch was played, but the class of the English bowlers was incomparable. They contributed wickets at regular intervals and put pressure on India.
James Anderson was one of the main architects of England’s good performance that day. He bowled superbly well with the new ball and removed the openers of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal before the spinners intervened.
James Anderson believes India were nervous with England’s approach even after scoring runs. He revealed that head coach Brendon McCullum told them to chase even if the opponents scored 600 runs.
James Anderson issued a warning to India, saying that they will chase the target in 60 or 70 overs even though there are 180 overs left. Speaking to reporters after the match, he explained:
“I think the nerves were there watching today, the way they batted, I think they didn’t know how many were enough. They were quite cautious even when they had a big lead. The coach’s talk last night [Brendon McCullum] It was that if they got 600, we were going for it..
Make it very clear to everyone that we will try to do it tomorrow. I know there are 180 overs left in the game, but we will try to do it in 60 or 70. That’s the way we play, and we saw it tonight with Rehan coming out and playing the shots off him. We have prepared our position, tomorrow will be no different, we will play the same way we have done the last two years.“
It was satisfying to see India crawl into their shells – James Anderson
James Anderson was further asked if it was satisfying to see India go into their shells, replying that they were satisfied with it and highlighted how they had changed the dynamics of Test cricket.
He added that with their Bazball approach, they have made the opposition captain unsure what a good result would be against us. He explained:
“Yes, definitely. There have been moments over the last two years, particularly in the last 12 months, that make us think we are doing something right because of the way the teams have reacted. Back to the first Ashes ball that has a point on the limit sends us a message that we are doing something right.
“I don’t know if intimidate is the right word, but it puts different thoughts in the minds of opponents and captains. It definitely felt like that today – it seemed like they weren’t sure what a good score would be against us. The wicket is still pretty good, some remain low, but that is to be expected.”
England are still 332 runs behind to take a 2-0 lead in the series. At stumps, they were 67/1.