Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik believes that there were many instances where India could have taken control, but they failed to capitalise on them.
Karthik praised Ravindra Jadeja for the resilience he showed in the middle, even though he kept losing partners at the other end. He also commended the grit shown by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, who fought till the very end.
“I really enjoyed Ravindra Jadeja at the end. He was running out of partners, but still had the mental resilience to keep going over and over. The attitude of Bumrah and Siraj is also one to learn from for all of Indian cricket, really. They did not give up; they wanted to make a match out of it. They just kept doing everything to stay in the game,” said Karthik on Sky Sports’ broadcast.
He added that there were bigger reasons for India’s loss than just what happened on the last day. He gave examples such as India losing their last four wickets in the first innings for just 11 runs, KL Rahul dropping Jamie Smith when he was on five, and the excessive number of extras conceded by India across the two innings.
“If you’re going to judge the match based on what happened today, I think you’re looking at it from the wrong side. You’ve got to look at 376/6 in the first innings to 387 all out. Yet again, a bit of a mini-collapse,” he said, “The catch that KL Rahul dropped Jamie Smith on five in the first innings. The fact that you’ve conceded 63 extras across two innings. How much do those things matter to you? Those are the conversations that you need to have. Not the shots that you played today or the way the tail-enders really showed grit and determination.”
Karthik believes that if India focus on these areas and improve, they can definitely make a comeback like they did in Edgbaston.
“It’s across five days. There were moments in the game when you could have definitely gone ahead. India didn’t do it, probably for the third time now in this series. But when they’ve really used their brains and just stuck it out there, like they did in Edgbaston, they found a way to get ahead and dominate a Test match,” Karthik concluded.
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