Former England captain Michael Vaughan has attacked India’s choice to change the ball on Day 2 of the third Test at Lord’s. The incident occurred after Indian players complained about the ball losing its shape, causing Shubman Gill to request a replacement.

While Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets with the second new ball, England lost no further wickets in their first innings following the change, prompting Vaughan to criticise the decision. He stated that the fielding side should not be overly concerned with the ball’s shape.

“I believe that bowlers might be a little foolish at times. I’ve been watching cricket for a lot of years, and when there’s a ball going around, it doesn’t matter how large or what shape it is. It’s going around; you only have three wickets.” Vaughan

Vaughan also criticises Mohammed Siraj, pointing out that the fast bowler appeared to be the one constantly pressing the umpires to change the ball.

He suggested that the bowlers were overthinking the situation and that they should have adjusted to the conditions rather than relying on changing the ball.

“Mohammed Siraj appears to be approaching the umpire on his own, saying ‘I want a change in the ball’. The rest of the team should have slapped Siraj on the head and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ Then the second ball arrived, and nothing happened. They shouldn’t have done that, and bowlers have a tendency to complicate things,” Vaughan added.

Bumrah noted that the experiences learnt during his previous tour of England helped him use the conditions well, resulting in a five-wicket haul in the third Test at Lord’s.

“I worried about the slope throughout the last trip, but it didn’t help. My takeaway from that was to not keep that in mind, and I benefited from it. In these heated conditions, it is all about getting the most out of the new ball. It wasn’t like that on the previous tour, and that was the main difference,” Bumrah explained.