Did India's ball change gamble backfire on Day 2? Ex-England skipper slams Shubman Gill as tailenders pile on 116 runs

Former England captain Nasser Hussain criticized India's unusual request for a ball change early on the second day of the Lord’s Test on Friday. India's Test captain Shubman Gill approached the umpires with a request to change the ball, even though the Indian pacers had effectively utilized the second new ball, causing difficulties for the England batters.

Jasprit Bumrah, the team's star pacer, broke the partnership between Joe Root and Ben Stokes after they had helped England surpass the 250-run mark with four wickets down on the first day of the Test.

Bumrah first bowled Stokes with a sharp nip-backer and then had Root, who had scored a century, drag one back onto the stumps. He then dismissed Chris Woakes with his first delivery - all within a span of 12 balls during his fiery spell.

Gill took a new Dukes ball at 80.1 overs overnight. Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj troubled wicketkeeper Jamie Smith early on, before he was dropped by KL Rahul in the slips. However, it was surprising when captain Gill requested a ball change around the 90th over, which the umpires eventually approved. Subsequently, the Indian players seemed dissatisfied with the quality of the red ball provided to them.

Mohammed Siraj was the first to voice his discontent. “Is this a 10-over-old ball? Seriously?” he was heard saying on the stump mic.

Hussain remarked that India's plea for a new ball proved counterproductive, as Smith and fast bowler Brydon Carse both achieved half-centuries. England advanced from a score of 271 for seven to 387 all out, accumulating an additional 116 runs for the final three wickets.

“It was a very odd ball change from India. There are two reasons you change a cricket ball. One is because the umpires think it’s gone out of shape, or two, because the bowling attack and the captain realise that the ball is doing nothing and you try and get the umpires to change it," said Hussain.

“The ball was doing everything this morning. The ball they had, for 63 deliveries, was zipping round corners. Bumrah was going through a magic spell. Siraj, at the other end, was having catches dropped. The ball was carrying through to the wicketkeeper. It was doing everything. It was doing more than at any stage in the Test match," he added.

“I cannot work out why you’d want to change a ball that was doing this much — sixty-three deliveries of the ball zipping round. Not only did they want it changed, but the captain got really animated when they didn’t change it. I thought it was one of the most bizarre decisions. You’ve got a ball in your hand that’s doing a lot. We all know these Dukes balls are variable. He’s still on the umpire about the ball change. Now maybe he’s having a word with the umpires about, ‘this ball isn’t as good as the last one’. But that’s the problem with trying to change the ball, which is that if you’ve got a good one, stick with it. I thought it was a really odd thing for a) India to do, and then b) to get really animated, and now c) to say, well, the ball we got is no good. Don’t change the good one,” the former England skipper continued.

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