Former England fast bowler Steven Finn has stirred debate by suggesting that the shorter boundaries at Edgbaston during the second Test against India were not by accident. Finn observed that the ropes had been moved in significantly from their usual positions, hinting this was a strategic move linked to England’s aggressive ‘Bazball’ style of play.
“𝑺𝒐 𝒘𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑬𝒅𝒈𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏. 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉,” 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝑩𝑩𝑪’𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕.
He further speculated that England’s preference to bowl first and chase targets in the final innings was a factor in why the boundaries were pulled in so close.
“𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒔𝒔, 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒊𝒏.”
Tendulkar Applauds Jaiswal and Gill’s Brilliant Knocks
Meanwhile, legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar heaped praise on India’s opening day heroes Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill for their composed performances. After England opted to bowl under overcast skies, India made three changes to strengthen their batting but faced an early setback when KL Rahul fell cheaply.
Jaiswal countered the challenge with a fluent 87, dominating the morning session and forging vital partnerships with Karun Nair and later with Gill.
Gill, calm and assured, went on to anchor the innings, scoring an unbeaten 114 and adding an unbroken 99-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who finished on 41*, ensuring India closed Day 1 at a solid 310/5.
𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂, 𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒌𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆: “@𝒚𝒃𝒋_19 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆. @𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒃𝒎𝒂𝒏𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍. 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉. 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒔!”
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