It has been the story of this series, as India has missed capitalising on the starts to make things impossible for the Stokes-led side.
“If I have to point anything, a lot of the batters got starts but couldn’t get big scores,” exclaimed Rohit Sharma following India’s thumping victory in the second Test to level the series.
Not that Rohit has himself shown patience, but his concerns are understandable when 16 out of 20 times, top-7 Indian batters have lost their wickets between 30 and 85 balls in the series. Only once has an Indian batter – Yashasvi Jaiswal – played 200+ balls in an innings, while only three other instances have seen them playing at least 100 deliveries.
It was just the fourth delivery of the day, and Jaiswal had already hit a boundary in the over, but he again went for an aggressive shot, only to hand a reverse catch to Joe Root. Such has been recklessness that Shubman Gill – looking to revive his Test career – slapped one across the line despite not getting to the pitch of the ball to the only fielder at short midwicket off Tom Hartley, who was having a horrid debut by then.
There is no valid reason for their impetuous batting in the first two Tests. It’s not about skill, either, for Indian batters have been in control for most of their innings; it’s just that their aggressive shots have been wrongly timed on incorrect deliveries.
Shubman Gill played a reverse sweep off a fuller-length delivery despite being well set on 104 to lose his wicket. He could have easily converted it into a mammoth knock and solidified India’s position further.
Similarly, Shreyas Iyer could have resisted playing his shot over mid-off when his initial target was towards long-on after Hartley turned one away from him. Obviously, Ben Stokes took a terrific catch, but India lost another wicket off a loose delivery and eventually missed batting England out of the game.
A screamer 🤯 from Stokes sends back Shreyas Iyer!#INDvENG #BazBowled #IDFCFirstBankTestsSeries #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/nEbPLX88w3
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 4, 2024
It has been the story of this series, as India has missed capitalising on the starts to make things impossible for the Stokes-led side. There have been numerous reasons for India to dig in and pile runs and agony on the English team but have lacked the appetite for playing traditionally and tire the opposition.
Also Read: Shubman Gill finds a way…for now
England arrived on Indian soil with one of the most inexperienced spin trio, with two of them making their debut in the series and the third one having experience of a solitary Test. It’s hard to find a spin attack as less potent and inconsistent in recent years.
Further, the tracks in the first two games were ideal Test batting decks, with a little bit of everything for everyone. Indian batters had all the rights in the world to bide their time since the opposition didn’t have spinners skilled enough to create consistent wicket opportunities.
It was a feature of England’s 2016 tour to India. The home team hardly missed opportunities, and no wonder there were double tons, triple tons, and a century from a No.9 then.
And you’d expect them to score big since it’s in their game from the grassroots level to have towering averages with plenty of centuries. For example, Sarfaraz Khan’s first-class average is almost 70, while Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill were also tremendously consistent before making it to the national team.
There were a few instances in this series when England’s spinners were out of sorts and lacked options, and Indian batters could have exposed them to the harsh reality of Test cricket. Instead, they made their job easier with their oscitant batting and also instilled confidence in an inexperienced bunch.
There have been nine 50+ partnerships for the top six wickets in this series but not a single three-digit, with a high of 90. Despite only two games, it is the highest number of broken partnerships in a home Test series since 2012.
Who would have imagined England spinners would have a better average (33.90) than Indian spinners (38.39) two matches out in the series? India hasn’t scored rapidly, either; England’s economy rate (3.48) is significantly better than India’s (4.18).
🤯🤯
Tom Hartley bags 2️⃣ crucial wickets to keep England in the driving seat 👏#INDvsENG #JioCinemaSports #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled pic.twitter.com/XpYWv3vtqQ
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) January 28, 2024
The previous two major home series – England in 2021 and Australia in 2023 – saw India having batting averages of 27.16 and 29.52, second and third-worst, since 2016, minimum of two matches in a series. An average of 31.22 in the ongoing rubber, the fourth-worst, paints a worrying picture.
The tracks in the other two mentioned series were prominently turners, requiring batters to bat with more risk and score quickly. But pitches have been well-curated this series, but Indian batters have played only 57.25 balls before getting out.
This English spin attack is fragile and will always provide so many run-scoring opportunities that batters don’t need to force themselves, as India has this series. Few dismissals against spinners have involved skills; most have been gifted by Indian batters.
India’s recent few Test series against quality opponents have been on arduous tracks both home and away. The Australia series this time last year excessively favoured spinners, and the away South Africa series heavily assisted seamers, and as Shukri Conrad described, required more luck than skills.
Moreover, most Indian batters were mostly engaged in white-ball games. They might still be in that mode, failing to gauge what to hit and what to defend.
Zak Crawley has shown a precise understanding of his attacking and defensive shots. He has attacked the likes of Mukesh Kumar and Mohammed Siraj while playing out Jasprit Bumrah without much risk.
It’s understandable why England’s batters are going hard since the attack is their best form of defence. Most of them don’t have survival skills; to their credit, they have shown impressive attacking skills and found ways to score runs.
India doesn’t need to follow England’s batting suit; that’s not their strength. Their game is to bat session after session and score so many runs that even Bazball doesn’t reach near it.
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