Andrew Strauss criticized England batsmen rather than the pitch, for a change, after yet another poor performance from the visiting team against India in the ongoing fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Strauss has been vocal in his criticism of the Ahmedabad pitch after the previous Test match ended inside 2 days with India winning by 10 wickets. The fourth Test, even though its taking place at the same venue, is being played on a different pitch with this one not turning as much as the previous one.
England however, couldn’t make use of the perfect batting conditions on Thursday and got bowled out for 205 in less than 3 sessions on the first day. The English batsmen once again struggled against Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, with the spin duo grabbing 7 wickets in the first innings.
Looking at England’s performance, Strauss accepted that their batsmen are just not good enough to deal with the conditions in India.
“The Indian bowling was good, we’ve come to expect good quality Indian bowling… but let’s not hide away from the truth: England’s batting in these conditions is not good enough, quite frankly.
“You can think of all sorts of excuses around pitches and balls and inexperience, but if you want to win in India you have got to find a way of getting first-innings runs and England haven’t been able to do that,” Strauss said on Channel 4.
Axar bagged 4, Ashwin picked 3 while Washington Sundar took 1 as England got bowled out in 75.5 overs after electing to bat first on a surface which did not offer much turn to the spinners.
