England comeback against India difficult, but not impossible, says Nasser Hussain

India currently leads the five-match Test series against England after what was a comprehensive victory at Lords in the second Test. The Indian team is looking to win their first Test series in England in 14 years, and they seem to be well and truly on their way to do so. For England, however, making a comeback in the series is a bit of a tough task as they are without some of their first-team players. The likes of Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes could not be part of the squad due to injuries while all-rounder Ben Stokes has taken an indefinite leave from the sport citing mental health reasons. Veteran pacer Stuart Broad has also been ruled out with a calf injury. Former England cricketer Nasser Hussain reckons that it will be very difficult for England to make a comeback, but it was not impossible.

“It will be difficult with so many bowlers out injured, and the way England are batting. But, I repeat, they were in a position to win the second Test on the final morning so that game wasn’t all bad,” Hussain told the Daily Mail upon being asked if England can stage a comeback against the current Indian side. “They had a mad hour but that’s the brilliance of Test cricket. The game can change so often throughout five days. It could be different at Headingley. It has looked very flat this year. But these are two vulnerable batting line-ups,” he added.

CONCERN OVER ENGLAN’S BATTING

The former cricketer also reflected on what was a dismal batting performance from the three lions in the second innings. England could have at least drawn the match given the quality of their batting line-up on paper, but the Indian bowling attack was just too good on the day. Hussain believes that batting is a concern among most Test-playing nations at the moment. Apart from India and New Zealand, he said that all Test-playing nations have serious batting concerns.

“This batting demise has been a long time coming. It’s not just England by the way. It’s red-ball batters around the world. It only seems to be the two World Test Championship finalists in New Zealand and India who are producing high-quality red-ball batsmen,” the former cricketer said.

OUTSTANDING INDIAN BATTING DISPLAY

Indeed, there were a few exceptional batting displays in the Lords Test match from the Indian side. The likes of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul gave the side a very strong start at the start of each innings. Both the openers were firing on all cylinders in the match and that is a positive sign for India going forward. In the middle-order, the likes of Ravindra Jadeja held the ship as he scored valuable runs to help India reach a good total.

However, it was the batting performance of the Indian tail-enders that really stole the show. Mohammad Shami and Jaspit Bumrah played to the best of their abilities to ensure that India get a good total. Shami made his best-ever Test score as he scored a half-century and remained unbeaten on 56 while Bumrah made a crucial contribution of 34 runs.