English left-arm spinner Jack Leach has asserted that the pitch has a lot of turn on offer with the wicket being a lot drier. He also termed Rohit Sharma a world-class batsman and reflecting on the third umpire DRS blunder stated that he was pretty angry when the wrong decision was made.
The first two Tests are being played in Chennai between India and England. But there has been a lot of difference in the pitch. Unlike the first day of the first Test, the second Test had help for spinners and it was anything but a road like the Test series opener. The pitch was dry, there was a puff of dust coming off, and the ball was turning sharply. For left-handers, it looked even more difficult challenge with roughs there that too from day one.
Even a part-timer like Joe Root was turning it square as was witnessed during the closing phase of the play on opening day. Reflecting on the pitch, left-arm spinner Jack Leach who had ended day one with figures of 2/78 after 26 overs, asserted that there is a lot of turn on offer and insisted that it was the best he has bowled so far.
“I would say that the pitch is turning a bit more, the wicket seems a little bit drier and it is spinning. I thought I bowled well today. I tried to be patient as much as I could. This is the best I have bowled, it was all based around being patient and allowing the pitch to do what it was doing. That was my plan,” Leach said in a virtual press conference, reported TOI.
The dismissal of Indian skipper Virat Kohli stood out as he went for a booming drive and the ball spun back sharply to go through his defences. Leach termed it a ‘world-class delivery’ by Moeen Ali.
“It was great to see Moeen do that. It was world class. That was a world-class delivery. The ground went silent which is nice to do out here. It was my first experience of an Indian crowd and I have never heard noise like it when he (Kohli) came to the wicket. And then it went very quiet when he got out.”
One of the notable things on day one was that the pitch settled down a little as the ball got older with two set batsmen in while it was difficult to bat against the new ball with new players in. The southpaw also feels the same and also praised Rohit Sharma for his 161.
“As you saw with Rohit Sharma and Rahane, that once you get a partnership going with that older ball it can get a little bit easier. So we have to certainly believe that we can do the same when we come to bat. Rohit played a serious knock. He is obviously a world-class player. I didn’t enjoy it, but he obviously batted well.”
There was a blunder committed by third umpire Anil Chaudhary during the first day of the second Test when he didn’t check the contact of the ball with the gloves when England took a DRS review against Ajinkya Rahane. The 29-year-old termed DRS ‘controversial’ and said he was angry at the time of the incident.
“We were trying to get the third umpire to roll it through, they were checking the LBW, we knew that would have been not out. We were just trying to get them looking at what happened after the ball hit the pad.
“It is a bit like the VAR today, still controversial, (but) it is what it is,” Leach told reporters at the end of the day’s play here. They said they were checking it, then the LBW picture came up, we were saying no, no. We wanted to check the other one. I got the impression that they hadn’t checked it.
“There is nothing I can do about it, at that time I was angry but to get Rahane’s wicket in the next over made things little easier.”
