On the back of England’s loss in Ahmedabad, Jeetan Patel has expressed that he expects the visitors to punch back really hard in the fourth Test, which would decide the fate of the series. He also insisted that England got on the wrong side of the pitch, which spun really early on in the innings.
While the Test series was supposed to be less controversial, circumstances and conditions, including spinning tracks and pink-ball has made it staggeringly controversial. In the past two weeks, opinions over the playing field have increased dramatically, including cries over India opting for an all-out spinning track. In the wake of the pitch produced for the third Test, despite winning the toss, England couldn’t put on a substantial first-innings score, leading to a crushing defeat.
However, England’s new spin coach Jeetan Patel wants to put it all behind and expressed that he expects his team to punch back really hard in the fourth Test. He also added that it is a task now for the visitors to tackle the spin-twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, with the conditions for the fourth Test most likely to aid spinners.
“One thing this England side have done recently is to face and punch against it. I expect the fourth Test match to be on a spinning wicket and we have to get a way to make sure if we win the toss how we are going to put up a decent total. I think we expect and I expect the team to punch back very hard,” Patel told pressers, reported TOI.
“The performance of Axar and Ashwin have been the question of the series really. They have been fantastic and it is now for us to combat them. The conversation is not to go away from being positive and (we are) looking to score,” he added.
Over the last week, several English stars have come out, expecting a similar turning track for the fourth Test. Patel was no different, stating that they were shocked by the fact that the ball started doing things on the first day, with the pink-ball. However, putting it past by, he stated that the team would put a different effort, come the fourth Test.
“Look, it is India, it is Asia. We expect to get spinning surfaces, maybe we did not expect to take spin as early as it did and hence the line-up we picked. It was a tough pitch to play on and we got on the wrong side of it,” Patel added.
“In the first innings when we won the toss, 112 was not going to be enough on any surface spinning, flat or seaming. We were excited when we bowled India out for 140-odd. But again it did not click in the second innings. If we had scored 200 or 230 in the first innings, the game could have been different,” he concluded.
