Bowling right line and length reaps rewards for Shahbaz Nadeem

Shahbaz Nadeem has conceded that the wicket didn’t have a lot of purchase for the bowlers and bowling straight line and length was the only possible way they could get the better of the English batsmen.

India had another long day on the field in Chennai when Joe Root got to his second consecutive double century with Ben Stokes showing his audacity in his 82-run innings. Wickets were hard to come by and it was pretty much down to the flatness of the wicket.

Shahbaz Nadeem, who was playing only his second Test match after having made his India debut in Ranchi against South Africa in 2019, was expensive in his pursuit but managed to dismiss both the batsmen to give India a solid position in the Test.

“Our game plan was to dismiss them as soon as possible. The pitch is still very good for batting; I’m sure that our batsmen also would capitalize on the pitch and score tomorrow,” Nadeem said in the press conference at the end of the second day’s play.

“Basically, the plan was to bowl in the right areas and line. If you go for wickets, you will end up conceding more runs. The plan was always to bowl the right line and length and the batsmen could end up making mistakes. This was our plan for the day,” he added.

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Dismissing both Ben Stokes and Joe Root made Nadeem a relaxed guy after having gone for over 100 runs without any success. It also released a lot of pressure off him, as he admitted later in the press conference.

“I felt really happy to pick Ben Stokes and Joe Root’s wicket, it felt really nice on such a wicket. It feels really nice to strike for your team, especially when they require it. He was sweeping really well, you really have to plan well for him. There was some problem bowling early to him (Root) but if you stick to your line and length, you will end up getting results,” he added.

My Late jump was the reason behind No-balls, feels Nadeem

One of the most classical left-arm spinners, who relies on his jump to generate bounce, Nadeem bowled as many as 6 no-balls in the innings so far. On being asked about the same, the Jharkhand spinner pointed out his late jump as the major reason.

“I feel I actually jumped (bowling action) a bit late, that’s the reason for a lot of no-balls. Yesterday there were a lot of no-balls, today there was less. I would keep working on that.”