Former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg feels that one of the most significant turning points in India’s third Test against England in Rajkot was Joe Root’s decision to remove Rohit Sharma. The Indian skipper was just on 27, and the hosts might have been four wickets down in the opening session.
Hogg believes that would have exposed rookie Sarfaraz Khan to Mark Wood’s raw speed up front, perhaps compounding the hosts’ troubles.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Brad Hogg had this to say about the lost catch:
“Joe Root not taking that catch of Rohit Sharma on the first morning when India were three down was a costly miss. That denied Sarfaraz Khan coming in with India four down and Wood still fresh. Sarfaraz will thank Root for not taking that catch and he was lucky. But he took his opportunity and did really well. He is going to have a bright future.”
Brad Hogg
Sarfaraz produced a great performance in both innings, scoring 62 and 68*. Joe Root, on the other hand, continued to have a terrible series, and his fate was further complicated when he was removed off a reverse-sweep bowled by Jasprit Bumrah.
On this, Brad Hogg added:
“You need to know that Joe Root has scored a lot of runs playing that shot. And now that he has been dismissed twice that way in recent times, people are questioning him. He shouldn’t be questioned. For me he needs to keep playing that shot if he needs to keep putting pressure on the opposition bowlers.”
Brad Hogg
Joe Root has only scored 77 runs in the series from six innings, which is one of the key reasons England hasn’t reached 400 or more runs more than once.
Brad Hogg on England’s approach
England’s Bazball strategy drew widespread criticism when they fell from 224/2 to 319 all-out in the first innings in Rajkot. However, Brad Hogg stated why that wasn’t the wrong strategy by the visitors, stating:
“England tried to score as quickly as possible to avoid batting in the conditions they did on Day 4 where they got bundled out. I thought England’s approach was perfect and we’re set up nicely by Duckett. You wanted to get ahead of India as quickly as possible and it just didn’t come off. You play by the sword, you die by the sword.”
Brad Hogg
India won the Rajkot Test by 434 runs, their largest margin of victory in Test history. England will need great motivation to recover from such a crushing defeat, when the fourth Test begins in Ranchi on Friday (February 23).