Even though the team’s strong fast bowling attack, which has consistently produced victories, put them in this situation, the setback in the Edgbaston Test has once again brought attention to a significant weakness in this strength, which now appears to be a severe issue because of such a scenario.
India lost the game mostly due to poor fielding. India missed numerous crucial opportunities. Ben Stokes’ catch was missed in the first inning, and India dropped the game rather than the catch in the fourth inning. Jonny Bairstow was given life by Hanuma Vihari, who was still undefeated at 114. Hanuma dropped his catch at slip on Siraj’s delivery when he had only scored 14 runs. After that, Pant missed Bairstow’s catch as he was on 39.
The Indian cricket team has seen greater success in Test matches abroad in recent years. The best illustration of this is Team India’s two-peat victory in the Test series against Australia. Additionally, the team had a chance to win a series in England and South Africa but fell short.
Not twice, but for the third time in a row. This has been the driving force behind Team India’s success. 378 runs were not scored. The third and final Test at Edgbaston between defending India and England concluded on Tuesday, July 5, with hosts England surpassing their 378-run target.
The fact that England reached this goal in the face of India’s potent bowling makes it even more impressive. Even though this is a big win for England, Squad India is most worried about the fact that this is the third straight Test match played outside of India in which the Indian team couldn’t defend its score in the fourth innings.
Bowling edged blunt in the fourth inning
In any situation, chasing the target in the fourth inning is never simple. In that as well, chasing teams only occasionally succeed when the score is greater than 200 or 300, but Team India has been absent from that competition since January of this year.
Team India suffered two straight losses of this nature in January of this year during the South Africa tour. In the second Test, which was contested in Johannesburg, South Africa’s very mediocre batting team managed to reach a challenging total of 240 runs with only three wickets lost.
Then, in the following Test, which was played at Cape Town, South Africa once again reached the target of 212 runs in the fourth innings, losing 3 wickets.
England managed to reach the target in almost 77 overs. These numbers must be examined to better comprehend the issue with Team India’s fourth innings.
Indian bowlers bowled a total of 207.5 overs in the fourth innings of the three-Test matches played this year, but they only managed to take 8 wickets.
In other words, the side needed to wait for 155.8 balls (strike rate) and spend an average of 100.25 runs for each wicket.
Indian bowlers also had an economy rate of 3.85 runs per over during this time. Therefore, the Indian squad will need to address this vulnerability before the next international tour.
Failure of top-order
The failure of the top order was the main cause of India’s defeat. Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer were all unable to surpass 20 runs in the first inning. India won the first innings despite a 222-run partnership between Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, but the
team crumbled in the second. In the second innings, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer did not return.
Pujara and Pant both struck half-centuries, but the team could only score 245 runs in the second innings due to the top order’s failure, and the goal of more than 450 runs was only reached with 378 runs.
The Indian batsmen’s poor shot selection was one of the contributing factors in their team’s defeat. Virat Kohli was stopped due to an extra bounce. Shreyas Iyer, meanwhile, was ensnared in the short ball net. Iyer wore the net for Brendon McCullum, the English coach, to weave. That is where it happened after he told the bowlers to bowl short.
Iyer used the shot-playing tactic and intercepted James Anderson’s pass from Potts.
India lost the game mostly due to poor fielding. India missed numerous crucial opportunities. Ben Stokes’ catch was missed in the first inning, and India dropped the game rather than the catch in the fourth inning.
Jonny Bairstow was given life by Hanuma Vihari, who was still undefeated at 114. Hanuma dropped his catch at slip on Siraj’s delivery when he had only scored 14 runs. After that, Pant missed Bairstow’s catch as he was on 39. At the end of the fourth day, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow shared a 150-run partnership. Britain required 119 runs.
Even so, on the final day, the Indian bowlers were unable to split the partnership. There was no sign of the bowlers’ strategy, even though the pair began the contest before the end of the first session by smashing Mohammed Shami and Siraj’s balls. Between the two, there was an uninterrupted 269-run relationship.
An Indian fan tweeted and complained that England supporters who came to watch the match made racist comments against the Indian spectators and abused them. Responding to this complaint, the ECB expressed grief and spoke of action.
A person named Anil Sethi, while complaining about the incident through his Twitter handle, said that we had complained about the incident at least 10 times but were asked to remain seated. Indian fans are disappointed with this racial treatment.
Following the complaint, the ECB called for an investigation and further said that “We are very concerned to hear of the racist abuse in today’s test match.”
We are in contact with Edgbaston’s colleagues, who will investigate. There is no place for racism in cricket. ”
