At the end of day 1 in the Headingley Test, India were 78 all out, and England were 120 for no loss. A day to forget for the Indian fans.
However, this is a day that the Indian cricket team should never forget. This day happened because they seemed to have started to believe all the words written about their performance on day 5 at Lord’s. The great game brought their haughtiness down to earth with the loudest thud.
I remember watching a YouTube video where AB de Villiers speaks about how he plays within a box, showcasing the art of playing under seaming conditions.
In this video, ABD talks about an imaginary rectangular box around his legs and tries to keep his hands and the bat within this box. This technique allows him to play every delivery late and below his eyes. It stops him from following the ball with his hands and does not let him play expansive drives away from the body.
Another video shows how Kane Williamson plays tight and late using the same imaginary box technique. I am sure the Indian batsmen would have seen these videos. However, they don’t seem to have internalised any of those lessons.
Kane Williamson (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
KL Rahul batted at Lord’s and Trent Bridge exactly as ABD and Williamson had showcased in the video. However, ever since that glorious first day at Lord’s, he seems to have forgotten the fundamentals and has started to drive expansively, early in the day.
Rahul would do well to remember Murali Vijay’s performances in the 2014 England series. Vijay played two brilliant knocks in the first two Tests of that series, built on patience and leaving plenty of deliveries outside the off stump.
Soon after those two knocks, he forgot what brought him success and started to play expansive drives in the subsequent Tests. No wonder Vijay lost his form during the rest of the series. Rahul seems to be going in that direction from day 2 of the Lord’s test.
Virat Kohli perished in the Headingley Test driving expansively at James Anderson’s sucker full-length delivery. Rishabh Pant displayed horrendous technique following the ball with his hands. The less that one says about Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, the better it will be.
If these batsmen don’t like to learn from foreign players, I would advise them to watch Sachin Tendulkar’s double-hundred in Sydney in 2004. Sachin played an innings built on denial outside the off stump. That Sachin innings looked ugly, but champions learn to win ugly. If they don’t learn the lessons fast, this series may go the same way as that 2014 English series.
More than the batting performance, the bigger disappointment of the day was that the team management allowed the miraculous win at Lord’s paper over the terrible form of the batting middle order. A proactive captain and team management would have changed the batting line-up for Headingley.
I don’t believe that a captain loses his right to question other batters if he is personally out of runs. Only a poor captain would let that happen. Mark Taylor spent many months in the mid-1990s out of form but remained a great captain.
If Virat can ask an in-form Ravichandran Ashwin to sit out three matches, I am sure he can ask Pujara and Rahane to make way for other batters in the squad.
Doing the same things and expecting different results is foolish, according to a great physicist. Now that the disaster has happened on day 1 at Leeds, I hope the team management makes the much-needed changes in the batting unit for the fourth Test.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
not bad prediction.
manoj
Guest
This is what started to happening 215/2 new ball and first session tomorrow decides the game
Paul
Roar Guru
and yet another reason why Tests need to be 5 days.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Ha ha yeah. Barring a collapse, India will start building a lead sometime during the second session. The key question is how many wickets they have left at that point? England will be sweating it if they have to chase 150+. I guess this is why we have two innings per teams in FC cricket.
Paul
Roar Guru
Can I borrow your crystal ball to get some winners at Belmont Jeff? You did a great job calling day 3 at Headingley. Someone must have got in Pujara's ear and told him to bat with far less caution, so instead of going at a s/r of 30 he was up to 50. Kohli also looked very good, though I didn't understand England's tactics of bowling so straight to both these guys. Day 3 is moving day in golf tournaments and day 4 could be decision day for both teams. The longer India bats tomorrow, especially if they don't lose a lot of early wickets, the more their belief will grow and the more despair will set in for England. I'd love to see England having to chase 220 on day 5. It could be a great finish, but both teams have to get through day 4 first.
Bobbo7
Guest
India are a good side, not a great one. The right team won the WTC. India should have been beaten last game by a poor England side and are getting belted here. I admire Kohli but he is possibly not the player he was a couple of years ago.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Now it’s up to India to bat cautiously, without overly sacrificing productivity re runs on day 3. IF India could wrap up England quickly (450) and get themselves to 3-275 by stumps, they go into day 4 100 behind with 7 wickets in hand. Victory unlikely, but not impossible. Could be one of those situations where a lengthy Pujara stay at the crease is essential- but still needs to turn the scoreboard over as can’t see a draw being an option. India was routed for 78, but they also routed England for 120 on day 5 last week. Big day today for India when batting should be at its best for the match. It’s up to them if they can realise Virat’s words pre-match re facing down a d meeting the challenge.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
I suspect you’ve got your dislike of Pujara and Rahane get the better of you. Both played good second innings at Lords that helped towards the win. More to the point, both were out to good balls at Headingly, especially Pujara - he got a ball that swung after starting on the stumps and then cut away further- there really isn’t much a batsman can do sometimes. I’d agree with Kohli getting suckered and Pant and Rohit playing bad shots - thanks to the pressure created because the pitch was doing a hell of a lot and the bowlers were right on target. It’s flattened out a lot since then, which is a bit of bad luck, although it looked like the Indian bowlers were too loose at times.
NZ and Australia are the current teams you need to beat in Test matches to be considered a top test nation. This series is a bit of a 'meh' - but still enjoyable to see England finally start dishing it to India
badmanners
Roar Rookie
Now you know how Australia feels after our last home series! :happy:
Paul
Roar Guru
It's about form first and momentum second. Both lineups have guys in poor to okay form and what happened to England (out for 120 within 2 sessions) happened to India (out for 78 within 2 sessions). Once bowlers get on top, the start bowling "unplayable" deliveries, guys start to follow the ball and play some park cricket shots (Rohit's was a shocker as was Pant) and all of a sudden a team is 7 or 8 down for not many.
Paul
Roar Guru
No you don't. India has the batsmen to replace them already in the squad. I wrote about this very issue a week ago
Englishbob
Guest
Being a follower of all the sports Pant reminds me a bit of Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid/ Brazil fame in soccer. Carlos scored the greatest deadball free kick in the history of football against France (if you haven't seen it, YouTube it) this allowed him license to take more or less every free kick for his teams for the rest of his career, he tried the same thing every time and never repeated it. Pant has one approach and when it works its great. When it doesn't, and it frequently doesn't, it costs his team.
Linphoma
Guest
Tsat, kudos to your analysis. My one burning question is how you pronounce Tsat.
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
The Pujara and Rahane partnership help India together in the last test before the Shami/Bumrah partnership could cash in. I dont have any such excuses for Virat
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
There can be comparison. It's the same Indian team holding the bat
bazza200
Guest
Yeah pant is he really looking like a no.6 batsmen in non flat conditions ?
Tsat
Roar Guru
The article is focussed only on the Indian side and what they could have done..not a balanced report
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
some of us in neighboring SA countries often gets a bit bored watching repeated show of highlights of India's successes in different cricket match. Surely the sports channels wont show the highlights of yesterdays play very often.
Cari
Roar Rookie
There is hardy any mention of the English bowling. Andersen broke the back or India’s early bathing and the rest of bowlers joined the party.