Josh Tongue: “I don’t understand why we can’t pursue that 371”

Josh Tongue, a fast bowler, stated that England will want to defeat India on the last day of the Leeds Test. Their openers had already chipped away 21 runs in the six-over interval before to the end of play on day four, and the hosts were given a challenging mark of 371 to chase in the fourth innings.

Under captain Ben Stokes, England has only drawn once in their last 36 Test matches, and that was during the 2023 Ashes’ rain-soaked Manchester Test. Even if the weather might affect Leeds tomorrow, Josh Tongue anticipates that his team will not be content to settle for a draw if full play is feasible.

“[We’ll] simply aim for victory. Josh Tongue, who quickly ended India’s second innings by taking three wickets in one over, stated, “That’s the clear message in the changing room.” “We simply need to be as optimistic as possible. They will occasionally bowl well tomorrow; we simply need to absorb that pressure and reapply it. I fail to see why we can’t pursue that.

When KL Rahul was asked about Josh Tongue’s statement, the Indian batsman responded that he also anticipated a result on Tuesday.

Rahul, who has already scored 137 runs on the pitch, also emphasised the surface’s potential wear and irregular bounce on the last day.

When Rahul remarked, “There’s definitely going to be a result,” “England has stated it quite openly, and their cricketing approach also implies that. We have a strong chance of taking ten wickets because of it. On day five, we are aware of how they will bat.

“I batted there for a long time today, and I never felt set at any point. It was a very difficult track. The wicket has been severely damaged, and it may shatter even more tomorrow. In order to determine what lines and lengths we can bowl and how to get them out, [we’ll] try to keep their cricketing style in the back of our minds.”

After a second Test failure that kept India from reaching an even higher score, Rahul also defended his team’s lower order. In the first and second innings of the series, the visitors had fallen to 7 for 41 and 6 for 31, respectively.

“There was a little bit of discussion about how many runs we need on the board or… maybe giving them a few overs to bat in the evening today and see if we can pick up a wicket or two,” Rahul said. “We would have preferred at least 40 or 50 more runs given the situation we were in.

“Being from a different team doesn’t seem like a lower order to me. They remain members of our team. They’re still giving it their all. Yes, the hitters who have been out in both innings will be more angry with themselves than I am and more than the top order batsmen. In the nets, everyone works really hard, but occasionally it doesn’t happen.

“We discussed as a team how we could get 350 and 400 runs each time we batted when we first started this Test match or before to this series. The good news is that we were able to accomplish it in both of our innings. That’s the good thing. Indeed, there are lessons learnt, and if a couple of the batters perform well, the 350 seems to be moving swiftly up to 450 and 500, which is what a hitting group would ideally want. We’ll take what we can from the runs we’ve scored so far in this innings.”