MANCHESTER: On Day 2 of the fourth Test against England here at the Old Trafford Ground on Thursday, India failed to extend the advantage they had before the innings resumed and conceded more ground as their bowlers allowed openers from the rival team to add 166 runs. All-rounder Shardul Thakur admitted the bowling unit gave away a lot of runs in the first 10-12 overs and they could have done better.

“I think it was a good effort, whatever runs we got on the board. The ball was doing a lot in the morning today compared to yesterday. And I felt we batted well in the morning, whatever runs we could get. With the ball, I think in the first 10-12 overs, there were a lot of runs being scored. And after that, we were trying to pull it back. And, you know, runs kept flowing. We know a lot of times when the sun is out here, the runs are being scored at a good rate. And when the conditions are overcast, the ball does a lot. And then it just becomes difficult to score,” Thakur, who scored 41, told journalists during the post-day press conference.

Elaborating it further, he said, “Like I said, with the new ball, we could have been better. And after that, yes, we were trying to hold it back but runs kept flowing. It wasn’t difficult for bowlers, I would say. We could have had much more patience in terms of bowling the channel, which we didn’t. So, yeah, there are two sides of the coin where there were few deliveries that we bowled really well. And there were few deliveries which just went for boundaries. So, I think we have to evaluate which kind of deliveries we need to stick by and just keep doing over and over again tomorrow when we come back.”