“Hope to see him in all formats”: Sourav Ganguly compliments Zak Crawley on scoring maiden Test double century

Sourav Ganguly compliments Zak Crawley: The former Indian captain was wax lyrical about the 22-year old English batsman.

During the second day of the third Test of the ongoing Pakistan’s tour of England in Southampton, England batsman Zak Crawley played exceedingly well to convert his maiden Test century into a double century and earn applauds from cricket fans around the world.

Crawley, who resumed from his overnight score of 171*, played a lot of dot balls amidst the two rain interruptions in the morning session before scoring his first boundary off Pakistan speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Having scored a couple of more boundaries, Crawley then took on Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah in the 113th over. The right-hand batsman scored two boundaries to cross the 200-run mark to become the first English batsman after Rob Key to convert his maiden Test century into a double century.

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With England wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler also having completed his second Test century by then, the duo stamped their authority on the Pakistani bowling attack which didn’t have any answer against them.

Soon enough, Crawley was frequently found among the boundaries especially against Pakistan spinner Yasir Shah. A sudden increase in the strike rate witnessed Crawley reaching the 250-run mark in the 126th over by scoring a boundary off Naseem Shah.

Sourav Ganguly compliments Zak Crawley

It was on the second delivery of the 133rd over that Crawley’s attempt of scoring brisk runs saw him getting dismissed off harmless spin bowling of Asad Shafiq. Having stepped out to a delivery down the leg-side, Crawley was comfortably short of his crease as he departed for a magnificent 267 (393) inclusive of 34 fours and a six.

Former India captain and current BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) President Sourav Ganguly was among the many people who lauded Crawley’s effort at the Ageas Bowl. Ganguly took to social media platform Twitter to hope seeing Crawley playing across formats for England.

How Twitterati reacted:

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