Shubman Gill blamed for ‘letting England off the hook’: ‘None of your pacers can bowl at 145 kmph'

India's bowling tactics came under scrutiny after England's Brook and Smith launched a counterattack, overshadowing early dismissals by Mohammed Siraj.

Former India and England cricketers blamed India captain Shubman Gill for "allowing" Harry Brook and Jamie Smith to counterattack and get back into the contest. Mohammed Siraj gave India a dream start on Day 3 of the second Test by dismissing Joe Root (22) and Ben Stokes (0) off successive balls in the second over of the day. England were tottering at 83 for 5, trailing India by a mammoth 510 runs. From there, Brook and Smith launched an outstanding counterattack aided by some unusually defensive tactics from India to take England past the 300-run mark.

India's Shubman Gill looks on (Action Images via Reuters)

Smith smashed the fastest century by an England keeper and the third-fastest by an English batter off just 80 balls, while Harry Brook got to his 9th Test century as the duo put on more than 200 runs in no time.

Former India fast bowler Varun Aaron said India got carried away after the wicket of Ben Stokes. They tried to overattack with the bouncer tactic, which got them away from the Test-match length.

“I think India allowed this counterpunch by the English batsmen. If you see what worked really well for India last evening and even this morning, it was bowling at the right length. But the moment India got Stokes' wicket, they got a bit too aggressive on a flat wicket," Aaron said on JioHotstar.

Aaron said there was no point in bowling this many bouncers, which were largely dealt with by brutal pull shots by Smith and Brook when they did not have a bowler who could bowl at 145 km/h.

"Too many bouncers, too many short balls. On a slow pitch, when none of your bowlers are consistently pushing the 145 kph mark, you cannot afford to bowl that many short deliveries. Indian bowlers have the skill to keep it on that ideal length — keep hitting the stumps. Sustained pressure is what gets you wickets. You can't expect things to happen immediately all the time," he added.

Shubman Gill ‘let England off the hook': Trott

Former England batter Jonathan Trott too accused India's young captain, Shubman Gill, of "letting off the hook" After getting off to such a brilliant start on Friday.

“That partnership at the start was very much under pressure, but as soon as India switched to the short-ball tactic, it actually let the English batsmen off the hook. They’re always going to take the short ball on. And once the runs started flowing — as anyone who's watched cricket knows — that’s when the pressure starts to ease, and they can play their natural game. Even if one of them gets caught on the boundary, it’s not a big deal. The next guy will come in and likely do the same thing," Trott said.

Aaron, however, was all praise for Jamie Smith for his blistering century, which marked the second of his career. “Jamie Smith is a gifted and very brave batter. He’s not hesitating to take on the challenge at all. With almost six to seven fielders packed on the leg side, it takes real courage to play those shots — it shows how much belief he has in his ability and the trust the team has placed in him. He’s a talented player, not just in red-ball cricket but in the white-ball format too. Bright days ahead — but he’ll need to convert this into a daddy hundred.”