ENG vs IND 2025: ‘Arrogance won’t work’ – Dinesh Karthik slams England’s batting approach after Day 2 collapse

Dinesh Karthik, a former India wicketkeeper-batter, chastised the England batters for trying to play too aggressively without considering the opponent bowlers’ skill level or the conditions.

In the second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham, Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bowl first. The Indian batsmen put pressure on the England bowlers, scoring 587 runs in 151 overs thanks to Shubman Gill’s spectacular 269-run knock and the outstanding supporting performances of Ravindra Jadeja and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

In the last session on Day 2, England was given the opportunity to bat, but they didn’t appear to be up to the task. In 20 overs, the Three Lions only managed 77 runs while losing three wickets.

“You must undoubtedly put it on exhausted legs, but more significantly, some extremely exhausted minds as well. Test cricket is all about how mentally tough you are; it won’t always be simple. Dinesh Karthik stated on Sky Sports, “As a batting team, you need to come out and say, ‘Alright, here we go, today, we might need to play till the day’s play and then figure out how we want to play tomorrow.'” You decided to bowl first and ended up bowling 150 overs.

Dinesh Karthik believed that the way the England batsmen approached their hitting was haughty.

England, according to the cricketer-turned-expert, had figured out how to temper their extremely aggressive Bazball strategies, but that wasn’t evident on Thursday, July 3.

“You cannot arrive cocky and declare, ‘All right, I’m going to play like it’s the first of the day.'” That is not how it operates. There are times when you have to buckle down, and I think that’s where Bazball has improved, but today we saw a little of what we’ve seen before,” he continued.

At the beginning of the third day, Mohammed Siraj causes chaos.

On Day 3, England already had a difficult task ahead of them as they were 510 runs behind India’s first-inning total. Joe Root, their finest hitter, had to stand up and save them from the dire circumstances. On Day 3, however, Mohammed Siraj bowled the right-handed batter the first delivery, and it sent him packing off. Root tried to leg-stump a delivery, but all he could do was give wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant a slight nick.

Root was replaced by Stokes in the middle, but the England captain was only there for one ball. When Siraj delivered a precise short delivery, the southpaw became entangled. Siraj took two wickets in a row as the edge went straight through to Pant. With only 84 runs scored, England has lost half of their team and will require a miracle to salvage this Test match.