India’s poor record beyond its shores once again came to haunt them even before their five-match Test series was over in England.
There was much hope before the Fourth Test in Southampton. Falling behind -0-2 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, India staged a great fightback through their captain Virat Kohli and the pace attack to register a great victory.
All eyes were on India when the two sides met at Southampton. India had a resurgence of their confidence while England were full of self-doubts.
The series had reaching boiling point. India confidently looked at squaring the series while England just needed to show spirit and clinch the Pataudi Trophy.
What followed next would have delighted the late Agatha Christie. England had lost four wickets for 36 and later were tottering at six for 86. But England’s tail, as they had done earlier, rescued the team and got them to a decent score.
India scrapped and got through with a slender 23-run lead. England were once again in dire straits but the tail stood up and wagged again.
India, as usual, got no start, as the top three went with a whimper. It was Kohli again with his vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane who put up a fight with a 101-run partnership with clever rotation of strike. But once they exited, the procession started and dream were shattered.
At the moment, the critics are their plunging sharp knives at Ravichandran Ashwin for not capitalising on a dusty wicket with rough patches which was affording spin. If Moen Ali could do it, why not Ashwin was the argument?
Why pin the blame on Ashwin alone? He had done reasonably well and got the backing from his captain despite the poor show. And everyone can have a bad day. He was not 100% too due to a nagging injury.
They should shift their focus instead to the batsmen. India’s bowlers have done very well on this tour and had complemented each other perfectly.
It’s the batsmen, barring Kohli, Rahane and to some extent Cheteshwar Pujara, who are to blame. No starts, no willingness to learn and worst of all basic mistakes which would make a schoolboy blush. These are otherwise experienced cricketers who have done well in the past.
The worst part was India’s tail started at six in this match. They so-called all-rounders were a big flop. You can’t play a Test match in England with just five batsmen.
Also this obsession with Hardik Pandya must end. He performed well with the ball as a fourth seamer but was a failure with the bat. His lone 50 came after India had already put a lot runs on the board.
He made one contribution with the ball on a helpful wicket but that was about it. By keeping him permanently in the side, they could not balance the team. For example, Ravindra Jadeja should have been played in Southampton as he would have cut down the load on an injured Ashwin and take advantage of the wicket.
Similarly Kuldeep Yadav was picked on a seaming wicket at Lord’s which was a stupid selection.
With the series gone, there will a temptation to experiment. But this is not the time to do it. There is still a chance to make it 3-2 to ensure the scoreline looked better. India should aim for that.
The series has been fantastic and this would be a fitting finale.
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#All views expressed in this column are the authors and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.
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