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India lose Edgbaston Test: 4 reasons why Jasprit Bumrah-led side failed to script history in England

India lose Edgbaston Test by 7 wickets. Let's take a look at what actually was the reason behind one of Team India's biggest overseas defeats.

team india

New Delhi, July 6: Despite dominating the rescheduled fifth Test in Edgbaston till the end of day three, Team India let the match slip away from its grip and ended up registering a shambolic 7-wicket loss in a record run chase against England.

Majestic fourth innings centuries from Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow - who also slammed a ton in the first innings - ensured the English made a mockery of India's much-vaunted bowling attack. Never in the run chase of a mammoth 378, the English looked in trouble on a pitch where Indians could only muster a paltry 245 in their second innings.

Stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah was the lone bowler who could offer any resistance to the English batters who are redefining Test cricket with their aggressive intent in the run chases. With this loss, Team India missed the opportunity of registering a Test series win on English soil after 15 years and also improved their rankings in the World Test Championships standings. The series in which Team India was leading 2-1, ended in a 2-2-2 draw by the Ben Stokes-led side.

Let's take a look at what actually was the reason behind one of Team India's biggest overseas defeats.

Poor Batting:

Poor Batting:

Put in to bat first in the first innings, the visitors ended up posting 416, thanks to gritty centuries from Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja and their mammoth 222-run stand for the sixth wicket. The top-order disappointed in the first innings as India suffered another batting collapse and were reeling at 95-5 in the second session of the opening day.

The big guns like Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli were out cheaply and were joined by promising talents like Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer early in the dressing room. Had it not been for Pant and Jadeja's innings, the visitors would have been booked inside 200 in their first innings.

Indian bowlers then ensured England were bundled out for 284 in their first innings and the tourists had a healthy 132-run lead. Jonny Bairstow slammed a sensational ton and prevented the hosts from getting all-out inside 200 as the English too suffered a top-order collapse in their first innings.

Having taken a healthy lead, the Indians looked to carry the momentum forward their second innings with the bat. However, Shubman Gill's struggle against James Anderson's swing once again meant India were one down early. Hanuma Vihari and Virat Kohli tried to steady the ship but the duo once again failed to live up to the expectations.

But Pujara and Pant revived India's innings and by stumps on day three India had reached 125 for the loss of three wickets and their lead swelled to 252. The tourists had pushed the hosts on the backfoot by then and they were required to bat for another two to three sessions on Day 4 to wrest control of the game.

For that wouldn't just have meant an overall lead of more than 400-450 but also taken time out of the equation in the run chase.

On Day 4, every Indian batter looked to play shots and score aggressively and paid the price for it. Despite the pitch offering almost nothing to the English bowlers, except for some rare uneven bounce, India lost seven wickets in a space of 120 runs on the penultimate day.

Analysing India's defeat, former India opener Virender Sehwag said on 'Extraa Innings' on Sony Sports Network, "Indian batters didn't apply themselves on Day 4. They should have batted for more than two sessions as batting looked easy on the surface and English bowlers were also looking short of ideas on how to break the stand between Pant and Pujara. But every Indian batter gifted his wicket away on Day 4 while trying to play aggressive shots. There wasn't any need to play such shots as they had to eat some time as well apart from scoring runs. I think, Indian batters became a little overconfident having taken a lead of 250-plus at stumps on Day 3 and that became their peril."

Overconfidence hurt Team India

Overconfidence hurt Team India

Despite getting restricted to 245 in their second innings, the Indians had set a massive 378-run target for the hosts to chase. 378 is never an easy total to chase but the way English went about it made it look like a walk in the park.

They lost only three wickets in the process as the opening duo of Alex Lees and Zak Crawley shared a stand of 107 for the first wicket before a minor collapse was triggered on both sides of the tea break on Day 4. But soon after Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow stepped into the middle, the ship was steadied and England started getting runs at a healthy pace.

By stumps on Day 4, England had put themselves in a comfortable position with just 119 more runs required to win on Day 5. Root and Bairstow ended up scoring unbeaten tons and ensured England didn't lose a single wicket on the final day and reached home inside 77 overs.

If one analyses India's bowling in the fourth innings, it seemed wayward and indisciplined. The bowlers hardly targetted the length which was difficult for the batters to face. The batters kept picking up singles easily and rotated the strike which further ensured the bowlers couldn't really build any pressure.

While analysing India's bowling in the final innings, former India pacer Ashish Nehra said on 'Extraa Innings', "Indian bowlers looked slightly overconfident as they thought chasing 378 isn't going to be easy for England. They didn't bowl in the right areas and could hardly choke the flow of runs, they never put the batters under pressure as English players kept rotating the strike at will. The fielding placements were also not good. It is nothing but a reality check for the bowlers for they've failed to defend the total for the third time in a row in the fourth innings. We witnessed something similar in the last two Tests in South Africa where our bowlers failed to pick up 10 wickets in the fourth innings. I also feel the Indians were undercooked as they had not played Test cricket and came straight into the game. England, on the other hand, were coming on the back of three Tests against New Zealand and looked settled."

Poor fielding:

Poor fielding:

Catches win you matches is an old saying in cricket and Team India paid the price of putting down catches. Hanuma Vihari dropped a catch at the widish second slip region to give Jonny Bairstow a reprieve on Day 4. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant too put down a catch of Root behind the stumps. Had those catches been taken, the Indians could have definitely made a comeback in the game.

Speaking on Team India's poor fielding in the game, former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif on Extraa Innings said, "Catches win you matches. Team India put down catches at critical juncture of the game and that hurt them. Both Bairstow and Root got a breather and they made the Indians pay for their folly. Also, I feel Team India's approach to bowl negative line didn't help them. They were targetting the rough areas to get some uneven bounce and trouble English batters all through the game but even as nothing positive came out of it, they still kept bowling in that area."

Ashwin's absence

Ashwin's absence

Ravindra Jadeja justified his selection in the playing eleven with a composed century in the first innings but the all-rounder looked ineffective with the ball.

Team India went with just one spinner in the game and included Shardul Thakur as the fourth fast-bowling option on a pitch that wasn't a green top from day one. The team management could have included Ashwin as the second spin bowling all-rounder for he could have also contributed with the bat.

Shardul hardly made any valuable contribution in the match either with the bat or ball. Even coach Rahul Dravid during the post-match presser conceded that in the hindsight it seems Ashwin could have been a better option but defended the decision to play Shardul Thakur.

"I think you can always look at the hindsight, look at the combinations of your team. I think Shardul has done a good job for us in these games, it is not easy to leave someone like Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) out in a Test match, but having said that, when we had looked at the pitch on the first day, it had a pretty even covering of grass, we felt there was enough in the wicket for the fast-bowlers," Dravid said.

Ashwin could have been a good addition to the side for he could have made the difference on the Day 4 and 5 pitch in Edgbaston.

Story first published: Wednesday, July 6, 2022, 16:57 [IST]
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