Where did India lose the plot? A 190-run lead, and then with England 163-5, there was one result possible. Or so we all thought. Ollie Pope did not. He was audacious and breathtaking. Having dismissed him cheaply in the first innings, India did not have a Plan B for him. For Joe Root, they did. For Ben Stokes, yes, but not for Pope. So, when he mounted the attack and started denting India, the bowlers and the captain did not really know what hit them. It wasn’t part of the plan, and India were caught napping. Reverse-sweeping consistently and getting away with it wasn’t considered doable. It happened and by the time Rohit Sharma got a lid on things, England had a sizeable lead. But then, the lead wasn’t the issue. The batting was. Against a spin trio with very little experience, India’s batting was painful to watch.
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Take Yashasvi Jaiswal. Stepping out to find himself in no-man’s land, he literally gifted his wicket away. And Shubman Gill now has one fifty in 16 innings in Test cricket. Talent without performance is nothing and with Virat Kohli to return to the squad soon, Gill looks certain to make way. Hard hands caused his downfall, and it was not the first time we had seen that. Gill needs to learn, and do so soon enough, for many are waiting in the wings for an opportunity. Rohit did not pick the one that went straight on, and that was when the match turned. With the skipper gone, England sensed a chance. He was the key batter in the last series against England and with him in the pavilion and Kohli absent, India were on the back foot.
Look at the dismissals, and the problem against spin is exposed. Since 2017, India have had the same issue. The batsmen don’t play spin well, and that’s the truth. Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Axar Patel all feel in ways that exposed the problem against spin. And when Ben Stokes ran Ravindra Jadeja out with an extraordinary piece of fielding brilliance, England had it in the bag.
That one effort in the field best summed up the game. Axar had dropped Pope off Jadeja when he should have taken the catch on the third evening, and Stokes ran Jadeja out in a situation where, 99 times out of 100, most fielders wouldn’t even attempt a throw against someone as athletic as Jadeja. England wanted it and never gave up. India had it, and got complacent.
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KS Bharat and R Ashwin, and then Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj delayed the inevitable and added to the drama. But the result was, by then, a given. Yes, Bharat and Ashwin were good, but the top order’s self-inflicted wounds couldn’t be healed.
For the optimists, India did lose the first Test of the last home series against England in Chennai. And then came back to win the series convincingly. There is nothing to say that India can’t or will not do so again. But even if they do, one thing is certain. There is a problem against spin, and that’s a fact.
The other thing I wish to say here is how Test cricket remains the pinnacle of cricket. Be it West Indies beating Australia at the Gabba or England beating India in Hyderabad, the drama was unmatched. There were periods of play in both matches when nothing really happened. When I say that, I mean few runs were scored. And yet, every ball was a story. Turn, bounce, slips waiting, puffs of dust, swing – both Tests were edge-of-the-seat thrillers.
Each Indian wicket was painful to watch if you were an Indian fan. Each wicket was a statement if you were English. If you are a West Indies fan, the story isn’t over yet, and that’s what Test cricket is all about. The series has been set up in India. England aren’t pushovers, and India aren’t as good as they thought. Now, there is all to play for in the next four Test matches. The ultimate test has just begun.
India vs England, Day 4: Post-day discussion https://t.co/BXKgCLuETH
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) January 28, 2024