Former India captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was bowled over by England batsman Zak Crawley in the ongoing England vs Pakistan third and final Test match at the Ages Bowl in Southampton.
Only playing the third and final test because Ben Stokes has returned to his native New Zealand for family reasons, the 22-year-old Crawley stated a case to became a regular No. 3 batsman in the England team with a 393-ball 267-run mammoth knock that put him in 10th place in the all-time list of top scores by an English player.
And Ganguly believes England shouldn’t look beyond Crawly for the No.3 spot. In fact, the BCCI president said he wants to see Crawley in all three formats of the game.
“England have found a very good No. 3 in Crawley,” former India captain Sourav Ganguly tweeted during the innings. “Looks a class player .. hope to see him in all formats regularly.”
England have found a very good no 3 in Crawley.. looks a class player .. hope to see him in all formats regularly @nassercricket @ECB_cricket
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) August 22, 2020
Crawley, playing in just his eighth test, shared a partnership of 359 runs with Buttler — a record for the fifth wicket for England in tests and its joint-sixth highest ever. Buttler also weighed in with a career-best 152 but was happy to play second fiddle to Crawley, who had every shot in the book — reverse sweeps, whips into the leg side, a chipped drive for six — in a marathon innings that deserved a capacity crowd at the empty Rose Bowl.
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Among his 34 fours was a clipped shot through the leg side to bring up his 250. He passed 200 with a flash through vacant fourth slip for four, one of his few streak shots of the day.
He is the third youngest England player to score a double-century, after Len Hutton and David Gower.
Ganguly, meanwhile has said India is ready to host the T20 World Cup next year and the ODI World Cup in 2023.
“The BCCI and the Indian cricket team will continue to fulfil its FTP commitments. The senior Indian men’s team will travel to Australia for its series starting in December this year, and will come back to the country for a series against England starting February next year.
“This will be followed by IPL 2021 in April,” Ganguly said in an email to all the affiliated units.
As far as India’s domestic cricket concerned Ganguly said the BCCI is ‘monitoring all aspects’.
“The BCCI is making all efforts to ensure that domestic cricket resumes as and when the conditions permit. The health and safety of players and all other involved in domestic cricket is of utmost importance to BCCI and we are constantly monitoring all aspects,” Ganguly wrote in the letter.
(With agency inputs)