India vs England: Michael Vaughan Cites Sachin Tendulkar’s Example For Struggling England Batter

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan was critical of opening batter Zak Crawley’s form, saying that the bowlers have found his weakness. Crawley has struggled to score runs of late, and was dismissed on a score of nine on Day 2 of the ongoing fifth Test against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Vaughan recalled India batting great Sachin Tendulkar’s initial struggles against Australia in 2004, before he decided to nullify the drive and ended up scoring 241 in Sydney.

Citing the same example, Vaughan said he wants Crawley to make some tweaks in his batting approach.

“Sachin Tendulkar had a tough tour to Australia in 2004 when the ball was nipping around and he was getting out playing the drive. What did he do? He nullified the drive and scored 241 in Sydney. Crawley has not tried that yet. He has not tried to put away the drive for two hours while the ball is new. Ultimately, he has not hit the opposition with another method. If you keep doing the same things, you will be found out repeatedly because bowlers are not stupid,” Sportskeeda quoted Vaughan as writing in his column for the Telegraph.

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Having earlier suggested that England should give a longer run to Crawley, Vaughan now feels that the 14-year-old batter has not learned from his mistakes and is hence getting exposed by the opposition bowlers.

“Eventually you have to recognise there is a problem. Since his 267 against Pakistan in 2020, Crawley has averaged 11 in English conditions without one fifty. You can say you are supporting him and he is your man but you are not doing other people a service when you back someone who has a massive issue. We have now seen him get out the same way pretty much week in week out. He has not adapted,” Vaughan further wrote.