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Former India opener Virender Sehwag shared a hilarious take on the lack of swing available for Indian pacers on Day 3 of the World Test Championship final.
While New Zealand's four-pronged pace attack swung the ball both ways against the Indian batsmen, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma's new-ball opening partnership couldn't have a similar effect. Mohammed Shami looked the most threatening among the Indian seam attack, but his success was mostly dependent on seam movement.
Possibly agitated by this, Virender Sehwag took to his Twitter account during the final session and wrote:
"Mood swing ho gaya, ball nahi huyi. (I got mood swings but the ball is yet to swing!) #WTCFinal21"
There are a couple of explanations for this trend. For one, New Zealand pacers made full use of the fresh pitch on Saturday which also had a bit of moisture, while the Indians got their chance on a more abraded track.
Secondly, both Bumrah and Shami are predominantly seam bowlers who depend more on movement off the deck than swing. Meanwhile, Ishant did extract a good amount of swing but was just not potent enough.
Wasim Jaffer's take contrary to Virender Sehwag's
Interestingly, another former opener and Virender Sehwag's long-time partner, Wasim Jaffer, had a completely different take on the bowling conditions in Southampton. While Virender Sehwag commented on the lack of swing, Jaffer was left surprised by the prolonged swing that New Zealand bowlers extracted in the first dig.
Jaffer posted an adorable picture of a kid complaining about how Indian batsmen must be feeling seeing their opponents nag the ball even in the 75th over. Here's the post:
Coming back to the game, New Zealand have crossed the 100-run mark in Southampton but have lost two wickets in the process, courtesy of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma.
