India will square off against England for the second Test at Edgbaston from Wednesday.
Former India ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has raised concerns over the accountability of the batting unit and dependency on bowlers ahead of the second Test against England at Edgbaston, starting on July 2. England successfully pulled off a record chase of 371 and took a 1-0 lead in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. While individual efforts lit up the scorecard, the 38-year-old argued that none of the batters carried on the innings and took the loss out of the equation.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin acknowledged the five hundreds from the batters in the Headingley Test, but questioned whether it converged into a match-winning impact. Furthermore, he urged Indian batters to bat long and deep, knowing the lower-order’s poor performance in the current scenario.
“Batters should take up responsibility. I know batsmen are making runs. Yes, we had five centurions, but where are the daddy hundreds? We have to resign to the fact that there would be no contribution [with the bat] from the lower order. Our fast bowlers cannot bat, they cannot muster runs,” Ashwin said.
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The spinner didn’t hold back from showing frustration over bowlers. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah once again emerged as the best bowler with a five-wicket haul. On the other hand, the rest of the bowling attack couldn’t control the flow of runs or apply sustained pressure. Ashwin insisted that the support bowlers need to complement Bumrah’s threat from the other end.
“In Tests, I think maidens are quite underrated. Ideally, I would be okay with Bumrah going for a higher economy rate, but others should go low. I saw a show where someone said Siraj was unlucky to not be among wickets. I do agree he bowled well in the second innings, but the economy rate, you can’t let go and hope that things fall in place,” he said.
Since the start of the 2024-25 Australia tour, Jasprit Bumrah has picked up 29 Test wickets at an average of 16.75. Their other bowlers have taken a combined 46 wickets at an average of 47.22.
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India’s approach to team selection in the away series mainly tilted towards batting depth. Team management has often preferred Shardul Thakur, Nitish Kumar Reddy or Washington Sundar, who can chip in with wickets, but not a specialist bowler to take 20 wickets. While that offers cushion on paper, the No.8 to 11 haven’t contributed meaningfully on a majority of the occasions.
At Headingley, India’s lower-order resistance was nearly non-existent, leaving the burden of run-scoring squarely on the top six. In the first innings, the visitors lost their last seven wickets for 41 runs and their final six for just 31 in the second. It comes to 72 runs for 13 wickets — and that proved to be one of the major reasons behind India losing the game. On the other hand, England collected 189 runs for their last five wickets in the first innings.
India have managed just one win in their last nine Test matches. The team’s longest losing streak in Test cricket came between Southampton 2014 and Galle 2015, spanning nine matches during a period of transition. A similar phase seems to be unfolding now. Since their victory in the Perth Test against Australia, India have failed to win another Test. Adding to their concerns is their dismal record at Edgbaston. In eight Tests at the venue over the past 58 years, India have lost seven and drawn one.
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