Shastri: India’s pace attack the best they’ve ever had ‘by a mile’
“In the four years I have been doing this job, if you look at a clinical performance overseas, this has to be the best,” he said after India wrapped up a 203-run win early on the fifth day. “South Africa [at the Wanderers in 2018] was gutsy, that was a nasty track. But this was clinical. When you look at all three departments, they stood up. As a batting unit, as a catching unit and as a bowling unit.”
The victory is even more impressive since India came into the game under pressure, trailing 2-0 having been thumped at Lord’s, and needing a win to maintain their hopes of claiming the series honours.
“We ran England close in the first Test match,” said Shastri. “We were blown away at Lord's, so we needed to prove a point. And all I asked the boys was to give me some accountability and they were simply magnificent in all three departments of the game.”
“Mental discipline,” Shastri said when asked to elaborate on the messages he had tried to instil in his batsmen after Lord’s. “Get tough mentally. You are going to look ugly. You will have to leave a lot of balls. There is no shortcut.
“You will have to grind the opposition down when the opposition has Broad and Anderson, who have got close to a 1000 wickets between them playing in their conditions. I don't care who you are. You have got to tell yourself, if I need a hundred I have to bat five-six hours. So you challenge yourself to bat those five-six hours, not one-two hours.”
India’s improvement was evident on the first day, when England inserted them, hoping to prise open again mental wounds inflicted in the second Test, only to see India cross 300 for the first time in the series.
“We would’ve batted. I can see where England came from because India had been dismissed so cheaply at Lord's,” said Shastri. “They must have thought ‘why not get a crack at India early? And if we can rattle them early and bowl them out on day one, we might have the advantage.’ But then again, our boys showed a lot of character, withstood that test and came out with flying colours.”
Having put up their best total of the series, India’s bowlers, led by a five-wicket haul from Hardik Pandya, combined to dismiss England for 161. In 2018 India’s quicks have taken 96 wickets at 23.21, their best in any year in which their pacers have taken more than 10 wickets. Shastri had no hesitation when asked if this was India’s best-ever pace attack: “By a mile. By a mile. No team comes even close.”
Looking ahead, Shastri warned against complacency ahead of the final two Tests. “They will be thinking positively, but [Trent Bridge] is over," he said. "You start afresh. Take one day at a time and execute your plans to the best of your ability. If you can do that, you will always compete. Remember all the good things you did in this Test match and take it forward. But remember you have got to start afresh.”
He also provided fitness updates on Ravichandran Ashwin who struggled with a hip injury during the game. “Ashwin will be okay," he added. "The fact that he bowled 20-25 overs clearly suggests it is not that bad. This break will be ideal for him. If there was a Test match starting in three days' time, then it would have been a problem.”
