Shashi Tharoor lists India’s standout performers in ENG series, sends Sarfaraz Khan reminder to Gautam Gambhir

Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor has shared his key takeaways from the recently concluded India vs England Test series where the Shubman Gill led side managed to match the series 2-2 after a famous win at The Oval on Monday. While the Indian parliamentarian was happy with the performance of a number of Indian players including the skipper himself and pacer Mohammed Siraj, he also sent a timely reminder to Gautam Gambhir and BCCI about some of the shortcomings of the side. 

Focusing on his takeaways from the series, Tharoor wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “Takeaways for #TeamIndia after #INDvsENG : Gill’s batting; Siraj’s bowling;Jaiswal’s flowering;Rahul’s steadiness;Pant’s brilliance;Washington’s versatility; Jadeja’s reliability;Prasidh’s & AkashDeep’s improvement.”

“ Still need to find: a strong middle order bat capable of taking the fight to the opposition: remember @sarfarazkhan977?; more pace-bowling backups for @Jaspritbumrah93; & a fast-bowling all-rounder in the @hardikpandya7 mould (but with the gumption to face the rigours of Test cricket). Chak De India! 🇮🇳 @BCCI @GautamGambhir” Tharoor added.

Team India secure famous win at The Oval: 

The India – England series came to a nail biting finish at The Oval with just 7 runs remaining for the hosts to win while the last batter Chris Woakes on the crease with a sling on for his dislocated shoulder and Gus Atkinson swinging his bat to get to the finish line. Mohammed Siraj, however, stood out for the visitors as he finished the match with a 143kmph delivery on the base of off stump to decastle Atkinson and win the match for India while levelling the series 2-2. 

Going in to the series, not many cricketing pundits had given the young team led by Gill a chance with veterans like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli out of the side after their retirement. The new look India side have punched above their weight with some player or the other standing up in each game to keep India alive in the series.

 India had lost the first match at Leeds but then came back strongly to level the series at Edgbaston. However, a heartbreak for Indian fans at Lords saw England taking the lead once again in the series. While it looked like England would take a 3-1 lead in the series at Manchester, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar batted almost a whole day to see the match end in a draw.