BIRMINGHAM: The Edgbaston ground in Birmingham posed a tricky challenge for India. As the curator rolled out a pitch from the edge of the square, one side of the boundary turned out to be short, just about 60 metres. Hosts England knew how to make full use of it. They had come in with a plan, bringing an extra pacer (Liam Plunkett) instead of Moeen Ali in the XI. And the lone spinner Adil Rashid was given just six overs. In contrast, spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav gave away 160 runs in their combined 20 overs.
As India will be playing their second consecutive match in three days at the same ground on Tuesday, captain Virat Kohli lashed out at the dimensions of Edgbaston, calling them ‘quite bizarre’ and ‘crazy’.
“The toss was vital, especially looking at the boundary that was quite short. I think it was 59m which coincidentally is the minimum required in an international match. Quite bizarre on a flat pitch. It’s crazy that things fall in place like that randomly,” said Kohli.
“It’s the first time we are experiencing this. If batsmen are able to reverse sweep, sweep you for a six on a 59m boundary you can’t do much as a spinner. They had to be smarter with their lines as it was difficult to contain runs with one short boundary,” he said.
