India hase a ‘world-class’ batting line-up and bowlers will have to be right on the money to avoid being punished, England pacer Mark Wood said on Wednesday ahead of the fifth and final Test here.
Tough to bowl at
“I think it’s (India) a world class batting line-up. You go throughout the whole line-up and you think, well he is a great player, he is a good player. Rohit Sharma is being brilliant, he is tough to bowl at in any conditions,” Wood said at a virtual con-call.
The Indian team is 2-1 ahead in the five-match series, having won the second and fourth Tests at Lords and the Oval by 151 and 157 runs respectively.
The hosts defeated the Virat Kohli-led side in the third game at Leeds by an innings and 76 runs.
“K.L. Rahul, I have been really impressed with him, he has left the ball really well early on and played really solitary and when he gets in, he has played quite beautifully. The openers are two big wickets for us,” said Wood.
“Then you have got (Cheteshwar) Pujara, (Virat) Kohli, I mean Kohli is one of the toughest players that I have bowled at in any format, so it is world-class line-up, but if you don’t believe in yourself, if you don’t believe you can get them out, then there is no point in playing.
Plans for each batsman
“So, we believe in ourself as a group, we have plans for each batsman, we have back-up plans, sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. But when you have such a good sort of batting line-up to come up against, you have to be right on the money, otherwise they punish you,” Wood said.
The right-arm pacer also lavished praise on the Indian pace bowlers saying he has immense respect for them.
“I think, every-team has quality pacers, this is national cricket, this is not (some) sort of school or club cricket. Every team has fantastic bowlers and I respect this Indian pace attack immensely,” said Wood.
“I think it is highly skilled, it has got pace, they are all slightly different, with different angles, different actions. It is great to watch, I mean, it is not great to face as a batsman, but as an opposition player, you can get a huge respect.
