Veteran spinner Shane Warne fumes over England's 'timid' approach to 'not lose'

CHENNAI: Former Australia spinner Shane Warne wasn't impressed with England's approach in the third and final session on day four of the first Test against India on Monday.

Warne was surprised with the visitors' decision to not declare in the second innings even after having a mammoth lead. The spin legend was also fumed at England's slow approach with the bat on day four of the first Test.

India bundled out England for 178 runs in the second innings with the English side leading by 419 runs.

England didn't declare even after having a lead of more than 400 runs and the visitors weren't even looking to score runs at a quick pace before they folded up for 178/10.

In a series of tweets, Warne explained how England was following Australia's footsteps of playing "timid and cautious cricket" against India.

The former spinner pointed out how the decision to not declare will be put a lot of pressure on England's bowlers.

"England's mindset is let's not lose this test match - rather than, what's the best way to win this test match and how many overs could we need! This batting on decision is now putting a lot of pressure on England's bowlers and particularly their spinners," Warner tweeted.

"@MichaelVaughanIn Australia India played courageous and brave cricket - was awesome to watch! Australia played timid and cautious cricket & Australia lost the series. England are playing cautious and timid cricket," he added.

Meanwhile, in the second session, India bowled 25 overs and gave away 118 runs. Visitors resumed the second session from 1/1, Dom Sibley and Dan Lawrence tried to build a partnership for the second wicket after losing Rory Burns (0) on the first ball of the second innings.

Sibley and Lawrence had a brief stand of 32-run before Ravichandran Ashwin struck again and dismissed the former in the 11th over.

Sibley was caught by Cheteshwar Pujara at leg-slip and departed after scoring 16 runs. Skipper Joe Root joined Lawrence in the middle and stitched a 26-run brief partnership for the third wicket. Ishant Sharma then scalped Lawrence for his 300th Test wicket.

Ben Stokes came to bat at number four, but in search of quick runs lost his wicket cheaply. Ashwin removed Stokes (7) in the 18th over and left the visitors reeling at 71/4.

Before the conclusion of the second session, England lost in-form batsman Joe Root as Jasprit Bumrah caught him in front of the wickets. Root played a knock of 40 runs off 32 balls including seven fours.

Earlier, the first session saw 81 runs being scored in 23.5 overs. India resumed day four at 257/6, Ashwin and Washington Sundar saw off the first 45 minutes with relative ease and the duo managed to move the scoreboard at a brisk pace. Sundar also registered his second half-century in Test cricket before India was bowled out for 337.