Stokes declared the innings on the first day
England declared their innings on the very first day of the Test match. England’s score was 393 for 8 in 78 overs when captain Ben Stokes signaled to end the innings. Joe Root is playing unbeaten after scoring a century. If there was any other team, they would have tried to make the score bigger. But England did not do this. Joe Root remained unbeaten after playing an innings of 118 runs.
Vaughan and Pietersen furious
Two former England captains Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen did not like the strategy of declaring the innings. Michael Vaughan said- I never declare an innings. I wanted a few more runs as a captain, especially when Joe Root was set at the crease. At the same time, Kevin Pietersen, one of the most successful batsmen of English cricket, said, ‘I don’t think it is the nature of his (Ben Stokes) captaincy. It is difficult to answer because we did not see much of it today.
Along with this, Pietersen said that this wicket will get better for batting. On Saturday it will be the best to bat and that’s why I didn’t like to declare. At the same time, England team’s wicket-keeper batsman Johnny Bairstow has defended his captain. He says it was a bold and good decision.