Chennai: Visiting England spinner Jack Leach said that he felt like he never wanted to play cricket again when India’s Rishabh Pant was going after him during the first Test in Chennai that Virat Kohli’s team lost by 227 runs.
“This is my first trip to India and it’s been a hell of a tough start! went through every emotion under the sun in our first Test win and I guess that’s why we love cricket so much,” Leach wrote in Sky Sports. He recorded figures of 2/105 and 4/76 as England took a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series.
While Leach troubled the Indian batsman for much of the match, he was taken to the cleaners by Pant during the first session of the third day. The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman smashed 91 off 88 balls in a typically counter-attacking knock that helped India find their feet after being 73/4 in reply to England’s first innings total of 578.
“After conceding 77 runs off eight overs on day three I was not sure if I wanted to play cricket again so I’m really proud to have come back and contributed to the team’s victory. Who would have thought the game would feel that hard when you have won by 227 runs?” said Leach.
Leach also said that the delivery with which he dismissed opener Rohit Sharma was one that he would be using as a visualisation aid.
“As for me, I think I will be using the delivery that removed Rohit Sharma at the end of day four as a visualisation aid in future games! It felt good to get a player of that stature out with a decent delivery and the timing was good too, so we did not feel like we had to come back and get 10 wickets on the final day,” said Leach.
IANS