- Written by Stefan Schimmelt
- Rajkot's leading cricket writer
England will rue missed opportunities on day one of the third Test in India, says former captain Michael Vaughan.
Joe Root dropped Rohit Sharma in the 27th over, and the skipper went on to score a century in Rajkot.
Both Rohit and Ravindra Jadeja, who reached 110, could have been lbw, but England chose not to review as India moved to 326-5.
“England will be happy with the effort but will also think they could have beaten India,” Vaughan said.
England reduced India to 33-3, which could have been 47-4 when slip bowler Root was slow to move to his left and missed Rohit's edge off Tom Hartley.
When Rohit was 87, he was hit on the arm while trying to sweep off leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed and captain Ben Stokes decided not to review. Replays showed that the ball would have hit the stumps, although there was a question as to whether Rohit had hit the ball.
Jadeja was in trouble on 93 when he defended Hartley with both his bat and pad, with England again opting against referral.
“England will know it was a day of missed opportunities,” Vaughan, who has captained England in 51 of their 82 Tests, told the Test Match Special podcast. “India is at the top.”
This is not the first time England have had an issue with reviews in this series. In the first Test in Hyderabad, which the tourists won by 28 runs, England burned all three reviews in the first 14 overs of India's first innings.
Some teams use a system of on-field reviews, for example, requiring the bowler, captain and wicket-keeper to all agree. However, England does not use such a structure.
“We don't generally have a lot of structure, this team,” assistant coach Paul Collingwood said.
“We have some very experienced cricketers on the field. It can be frustrating sometimes, but you have to step up and try to create more chances.”
Collingwood, the former footballer, said England's day was “good, but not exceptional”.
“On another day we could have got six or seven wickets,” he told BBC Sport.
“It was quite cold in the first session this morning, and there was some humidity around. Hopefully tomorrow we can take advantage of that and get some movement to finish the race. It will be hard work.
“We know how our batsmen will handle this. We will look to put our bowlers under pressure.”
“Coffee trailblazer. Passionate thinker. Creator. Hipster-friendly internet enthusiast.”
More Stories
Briefly about sports
England decides in stoppage time against Netherlands – follow the drama in the European Football Championship! – Sports – svenska.yle.fi
Football: Spain wins the European Championship gold medal against England after a late goal scored by Mikel Oyarzabal