Captain Joe Root took the blame for England’s loss to India in the second Test at Lord’s, admitting that his tactical errors were a reason behind the hosts trailing 0-1 in the series.

One of the major mistakes from England was peppering Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah with the short ball instead of trying to attack the stumps or bowl on the off stump channel. The ploy backfired as the duo stitched an unbroken 89-run ninth-wicket stand that turned the momentum in India’s favour.

The fragile England batting then crumbled before India’s quicks. “A lot falls on my shoulders as captain. Tactically, I could’ve done things slightly differently,” Root said at the post-match conference.

“The Shami-Bumrah partnership was the pivotal moment of the game, without question, and I don’t think I dealt with that well enough tactically. We could’ve looked at maybe attacking the stumps a little bit more frequently and using the short ball as more of a surprise,” he added.

Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott too wasn’t pleased with Root’s tactics while he also slammed England’s top-order batting. “Firstly, if you are stupid, you do not deserve to win Test matches.

“As much as we love Joe Root for his magnificent batting, he cocked up with his tactics. Secondly, England cannot keep relying on Joe for all their runs,” Boycott wrote in The Daily Telegraph.