Birmingham [UK], July 6 (ANI): England batting coach Marcus Trescothick claimed that they are willing to play for a draw in the ongoing second Test against India at Edgbaston as all three results remain possible on the final day of the contest in Birmingham.
After burying England under an avalanche of runs, India stands seven wickets away from restoring parity at 1-1. England, on the other hand, has a colossal task in their hands. After ending the day with 72 runs on the board after losing three wickets, the Three Lions need to conjure a way to garner 536 runs to gun down India’s daunting 608-run target.
With the prospect of England’s triumph being minuscule, Trescothick assured that the hosts are not “stupid” enough to differentiate between when to push for a result or settle for a draw under “challenging” conditions.
“I think whenever the situation is challenging, of course it is. I think you know if you get to the point where you can draw the game, of course. We’re not stupid enough to understand that, you know, you have to just win or lose,” Trescothick told reporters at the end of the 4th day’s play.
In the final hour of the third session, India seamers Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj ran rampant with the new ball and left England’s batting order jolted with their scorching spells. With his blistering pace, Siraj drew the first blood and punched Zak Crawley’s return ticket on a seven-ball duck.
Akash nipped the ball sharply into Ben Duckett and found an inside edge, which directed the ball into the stumps, forcing the southpaw to return after a quick-fire 25(15). He continued to be one of the best in the business and left Root speechless with a peach of a delivery.
The talismanic English batter got tempted by the length of the delivery and tried to work it through the on-side. However, the ball went past the outside edge, rattled the timber and forced Root to return on 6(16). Trescothick, aware of the threat that India is capable of causing with the new ball, admitted that the final day could play out in anybody’s favour.
“You know, there are three results possible in every game that you play. But we have done some things in our time that we are different to what we’ve done before. So we’ll see what happens,” he added. (ANI)