Former England opener Mark Butcher believes the difference between India and England were made by the No.1 all-rounders of both sides.
Mark Butcher differentiate India and England
Butcher said England’s No.1 all-rounder Ben Stokes’ return gave major to the Joe Root led side while India missing their best all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja hurt them a lot.
“Two huge aspects, England have their No.1 all-rounder Ben Stokes back and for India, they are missing their No.1 all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja,” Butcher said on Star Sports during the first Test in Chennai which England won by 227 runs.
Stokes was rested from the two-match Test series in Sri Lanka. The all-rounder played a quickfire 82 in England’s first innings and also got the important wicket of Virat Kohli on the final day of the Test to help England to a 1-0 lead.
India, on the other hand, were without Jadeja, who has been ruled out of the first two Tests of this after fracturing his left thumb. Jadeja had suffered the injury while batting during the third Test in Australia.
The all-rounder’s services were badly missed as India had to play Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar, both of them failed to impress with the ball, resulting in England posting a mammoth 578 in the first innings, which proved to be the deciding factor in the first Test.
“Talk about it in the field and also his abilities to bowl maidens as well. He has been a huge miss for India and Stokes a huge plus for England,” said Butcher.
India are likely to make at least one change for the second Test which begins on Saturday at the same venue. All-rounder Axar Patel who is a like-for-like replacement for Jadeja is set to make his Test debut, replacing Nadeem.
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