The fifth and final test match has reached day four and the match is evenly poised with England making a comeback. India were bowled out for 245 just a few overs after Lunch as they lost their last 7 wickets for a mere 120 runs. England need 378 runs to win the test match and tie the series at 2-2. Captain Ben Stokes picked 4 wickets in the 2nd innings. The story though has been developing off the pitch as it involved the wise men behind the microphone who brings us the analysis of the game.
The story as it happened –
The 2nd days play between India and England was marked as a fund raiser for former England quick Bob Willis. The entire commentary team of the ECB’s official broadcaster SKY SPORTS assembled for a picture. The team involved Naseer Hussain, Ravi Shastri, Ian Ward, Kevin Pietersen amongst others. Bob Willis had succumbed to cancer and there was a donation drive which was conducted on his behalf, hence all the commentators were wearing blue.
Naseer Hussain gets cropped out of Ravi Shastri’s picture –
During the course of day two’s play, the commentary team noticed something unusual. Former England opener Ian Ward had posted the entire picture of the Commentary Panel. While Ravi Shastri’s social media post did not consist of Naseer Hussain, the former England captain. Hussain looked crestfallen and said “I have been cropped out of Ravi Shastri’s life”. Hussain further remarked that the former Indian coach had made it a point to tag everyone but him.
Naseer Hussain speaks about the past hositlities –
Hussain and Shastri had famously clashed on air during the 2011 tour of England, when India went there as the world no 1 test side. Hussain had made a few observations about the Indian team not choosing to take the DRS during the series to which Shastri took exception. The fiery Indian remarked that Hussain was jealous because, England were world number 1. On Saturday, Hussain made a point to speak on this and said “Ravi, you even put your arms on my shoulder and said we have put the past behind us!”
The culprit behind the move gets revealed –
While Hussain was sad at being meted out such a treatment, there was one voice who burst out laughing. That happened to be former England batsman Kevin Pietersen who had done the editing part. He had cropped Hussain out of the picture and tagged everyone else but the former England skipper. There were hysterical laughter at the prank on Hussain. Later, Shastri even put out a tweet which read “this is @naseercricket appreciation tweet. Still grumpy just about to smile. Trickster at the back”. The picture had a serious looking Hussain with Ravi Shastri as KP was making funny faces behind the pair.