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India's bowling coach Morne Morkel lauded pacers Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep for pushing England batters on the back foot in the ongoing second Test at Edgbaston Test, Birmingham. Morkel defended India's short ball ploy in the first innings on a slow pitch which led to a big partnership with Harry Brook and Jamie Smith. However, he pointed out that on Day 5, Indian bowlers will be bowling good length deliveries, making it harder for England bowlers to hit as the ball softens.
"For me personally on this sort of surface, you want to set a field where you can still have both options: using the short ball and try and nick a guy off," Morkel said in the press conference after Day 4's play. "I think at times when you get too predictable, it can be a little bit easier to score because the surface is slow. But remember both those batters are attacking batters. They were going to take it on, and credit to Shubman [Gill], he took a gamble there for a couple of overs to potentially get a wicket. England at the time was 80 for 5. So to chase another wicket there, there's no harm in that.
"I thought we moved slightly away from our plans in the first innings, and in a way also with runs on the board you want to go take a couple of more risks but tomorrow for us it's just going to be asking those questions on a good length because we know as the ball gets a little bit softer it is harder to strike."
England were 72/3 at the end of Day 4's play, Deep knocked over opener Ben Duckett, Joe Root whereas Siraj got rid of Sai Sudharsan. Ollie Pope and Harry Brook have a mammoth task ahead of them as England need 536 more runs to win the Test. In the Bazball era, England are known for not going for draws. Morkel was asked whether India were worried about England chasing down the gigantic target, Morkel had a straightforward response.
"Worried? No. Not really," he said, adding: "If a team scores 500-plus on the final day then they deserve to win."
An end to India's Edgbaston win drought?
Before the ongoing Test, India had played seven Tests in Edgbaston. India have six Test defeats at the venue and one draw. That draw came in July 1986 when Chetan Sharma picked up 10 wickets in the match. India were set a target of 236. They posted 174/5 and the Test ended in a draw.
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