India have set England a target of 399 runs to win the second Test match of the series, in Vizag, and England are going after it. According to pacer James Anderson, England would have gone after any target, even it were 600 runs!
The Vizag Test is hanging tantalizingly with England needing 332 more runs with 9 wickets in hand heading into stumps on Day 3.
Even if India get 600, we are going to try and chase that down: James Anderson
James Anderson, who kick-started Sunday morning with wickets of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, revealed that head coach Brendon McCullum has emboldened the team to not think about the target and simply go after it.
After play on Sunday in Vizag, James Anderson told TalkSport, “Brendon McCullum told us last night, even if India get 600, we are going to try and chase that down!”
A sound warning to India, but one which everyone already knows with England’s recent history of successful chases under Ben Stokes and McCullum. In the Bazball era, England have won 8 out of 10 chases – an outstanding record but all of them have been on good batting surfaces and nothing compared to the deteriorating pitch in Vizag on which the odd ball is keeping low.
Opener Zak Crawley has started off nicely in the chase. Crawley, who scored 76 runs in 78 balls in the first innings, is unbeaten on 29 runs in 50 balls and has creamed 3 fours and a six to Kuldeep Yadav. He lost his opening partner, Ben Duckett, who scored 28 runs in 27 balls, to R Ashwin.
Yesterday, Crawley, too, had expressed strong belief in the team to go after any target India set them.
Crawley had said, “We believe we’ll chase anything and we have showed that before. Whatever they set us tomorrow or the day after, we believe we can chase it. Like I said, we might not but the belief is always there.”
Also Read: IND vs ENG: Centurion Shubman Gill Reveals How Shreyas Iyer Saved His Wicket
