Wasn’t happy to get out, but I’d do same thing again: Crawley

Zak Crawley always had promise, but that took some time to translate into consistent runs. However, he has become a big part of England’s Bazball revolution, blending well into the philosophy of scoring quick runs. 

On Saturday, where England were outcasted by a Jasprit Bumrah masterclass in reverse swing, Crawley was responsible for bridging the deficit to only 143. His 76 off 78 balls was the only half-century in the innings - but that he was out trying to slog Axar Patel would haunt English fans even more. But Crawley doesn’t regret that one bit.

“I wasn’t happy to get out when I did but I’d definitely do the same thing again. I was disappointed with myself, especially when the wickets fell afterward, but I’ll keep telling myself to back my aggressive game because that’s what got me here,” Crawley said in the post-match press conference.

“If I start doubting myself in those situations and not backing my instincts, then I revert back to the player I was a couple of years ago, really not scoring many runs for my team. I’m happy that I’m much more aggressive now and that’s helped with consistency. If that one doesn’t turn and I hit him over his head for six, then suddenly he’s under a lot of pressure and I can milk him for two hours or whatever. There’s risk and reward there. I’ve done it before and it’s come off but unfortunately, it didn’t come off today.”

With India already holding an effective lead of 171 runs, things are going to be slightly challenging going forward for the English side. Batting on a surface like this would be even more difficult in the fourth innings, but Crawley feels that it wouldn’t turn as much as it did in Hyderabad.

“It will obviously turn more than it is now, that’s always the case here, but I don’t think it’ll be as tricky as it was fourth innings for them last week so I feel like we can chase a decent score.

“It’s a quick scoring ground, really small boundaries and a quick outfield. If you put them under pressure, you can get on top of them. With a good couple of partnerships in the second innings, we can really put them under some pressure but we’ve got to bowl well first and that’s all that’s on our minds now,” Crawley added.