India were sailing ahead of England almost the entire Test, but at times they didn’t; turned out to matter more in the end. As Shubman Gill recounted, the difference between what India aimed to score in the third innings and what they actually put up was jarring. The latter half of the Indian batting lineup was cleared for just 29 runs. The first half wasn’t too impressive either. Barring Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, both of whom scored centuries, India’s highest individual score while setting the target was 30.
“I think yesterday we were thinking that we’re going to give [England a target of] around 430, 435 and then declare,” Gill said after the game. “But, unfortunately, I think our last six wickets scored around 20-25 [31] runs, which is never a good sign. But even today, I thought after their brilliant opening partnership, we did have our chances and just didn’t go our way in this match.”
In cricket, the quickest way to let the game slip through your fingers is to start dropping catches. Fielding, or rather the lack of it, haunted India across both innings. Throughout the game, they shelled as many as seven chances. Ben Duckett, who was given reprieve twice, went on to score a quick 149 off 170 balls in the fourth innings and helped England chase down their second-highest total.
“Chances don’t come easy, especially on wickets like these, and we dropped quite a few catches. But I think we have got a young team, still a learning one, and hopefully, in the next matches, we’ll be able to improve on those aspects.”
But what would worry them the most is how their lower middle order showed vulnerability to so much as a whiff of intimidation from the opposition. In the first innings, the last six Indian batters scored only 16 runs, but the damage was somewhat softened by the three centuries Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant put on the scorecard. But the Indian captain agrees they can’t afford such patterns in future games.
“Yes, that was something that we spoke about,” Gill admitted. “But when you are out there in the middle, it happens so quickly. And I think it would be one of those things that we have to rectify in the upcoming matches.”
Ravindra Jadeja, India’s main spinner, couldn’t exploit the roughened-up pitch to his team’s advantage on the last day. Shoaib Bashir grabbed two just the day before, and India, with everything going against them, teetered on the hope that their sole spinner would similarly wreak havoc with the ball. However, all Jadeja could manage was send Ben Stokes packing and being a victim of several reverse sweeps. Gill, though, thinks the veteran spinner was just unlucky.
“He bowled brilliantly. I think he did produce some chances for us,” Gill said, backing his teammate. “A few pop-ups, you know, that Rishabh [Pant] didn’t see. But that happens in a game of cricket. You kind of expect there would be some chances that wouldn’t go your way.”
India will hope they can leave the haunting memories behind before they head to Edgbaston to play the second Test that begins on July 2.
