Spark
Global Moderator
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I think they definitely searched a little too hard for wickets upfront but it didn't matter because they got exactly the result they desired anyway, except for conceding a **** ton of extras of course. But after that they were clearly, massively impacted by the crowd getting so anxious and then outright depressed and the drop in intensity in the field was enormous. It wasn't quite the yawning abyss they fell into down here last November but it was still pretty stark just how lacklustre they got in the field. They really, really should have had Head run out on 100 and with 50-60 runs to go, who knows what happens after that, but their heads had already gone.I wonder if this was more the case with the ball than the bat tbh. Iyer nicked off early - **** happens. A number of others were undone by decent bowling and good plans. That and the tail being so long - they had to play more conservatively than they otherwise would. I think HB mentioned Pandya’s loss being important in that regard
but when they started bowling and they got some early wickets, I think that’s when they maybe got too excited and looked for the miracle ball a bit too much. I mean it was doing a ton, all you had to do was drop it on a length and you’d have got results. Not that they were atrocious first up, more a bit too eager to take wickets instead of being patient.