From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in a matter of ten days. What transpired on day 5 at Lord’s sent us all into the kind of euphoria that was special and to be cherished!
For most of us that was the series defining moment and had England virtually down and out.
How wrong could we have been. The age-old cliche of this magnificent sport: ‘Sport is the greatest leveller in life’ holds true still. This game can be exhilarating and cruel at the same time. Joy for one, sorrow for the other.
The battle of optimism versus despair. The contrast in emotions can be quite intimidating for fans.
However, what one must always remember is that change is the only constant in this game of life and opportunities never cease to exist.
Yes, India was outplayed at Leeds. No excuses for the shoddy batting in the first innings or, for that matter, the batting collapse on day 4 in bright sunny conditions especially after braving through a really tough and overcast day 3.
Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara had reignited the hopes of a large number of Indian fans with their stellar partnership yesterday and much more was expected from the pillars of the middle order, but it was not to be.
James Anderson showed his class. The ever-improving Ollie Robinson was relentless and even Craig Overton and Moeen Ali chipped in to knock out India and take them out of their misery in under two hours.
Surely much of the battle was lost on Day 1 itself but the worrying thing was how much of it was mental! India’s mental flaws were exposed and kept us down for most of the Test and that is something that would surely concern the team.
Many things will be discussed, like team combinations, the toss, India’s continuing batting woes in the middle order and whatnot, but as true fans of this remarkable bunch of players, we must not stop backing them to bounce back from here – especially when they need it most.
This team has done it in the recent past and is certainly capable of doing it again here.
Come on, lads. Chin up!
Paul
Roar Guru
Wow, what a great post. Thanks for the information Paramdeep. Those numbers about batsmen being tried in Tests during Kohli's reign as captain are telling. I get that Indian Test cricket has been immensely strong over the past 7 years, but to only have 5 new batsman across a period where India has played a lot of Tests, doesn't show a lot of forward planning, especially when none of them are in the XI now. If I was an Indian fan, I'd be concerned that the batting has been underwhelming for more than 12 months. It was not the batsmen who won the series in Australia, it was the bowlers with ball & bat (with a bit of help from the batsmen). In similar vein, the batting was not great in the home series earlier this year and obviously the batting let India down in the WTC final - yet no changes have been made. Pant's problem is exclusively mental. He knows he has a problem with the moving ball, on or just outside off stump but hasn't been coached in how to deal with it, hence his skipping down the pitch to try and nullify the swing or his playing inside the line and hanging his bat. What he needs to do is get in line with the ball, know where his off stump is and simply not play. That's really hard for a guy who's first inclination is to belt the cover off it, but if he wants to become a genuine lower order Test batsman, he needs to go back to basics.
Paramdeep Rathee
Roar Rookie
Hey Paul England is the one country whose code Jinks hasn’t cracked. In 14 tests there, he averages only 27.50. He has an average of 36.48 in 31 home tests and 36.14 in 4 tests in New Zealand. All Eyes on Pujara and Rahane on their form but how about Rishab Pant? Bad patch is something everyone goes through but for me the way Pant got out in these test matches is a matter of concern. I personally feel he is slightly falling over with his head too falling across which is causing the trouble against the ball that is moving away from him and nicks it to the keeper or slips. His contribution becomes more vital considering that we are playing with 4 fast bowlers and If you are expecting Jadeja to get you that extra 40-50 runs with the bat Pant is the last recognised batsman he can play around with and stitch a partnership. If not the tail is weak that more often then not we will end up having a collapse with last 6 getting out quickly. (PS – Not everytime you should realistically expect a performance from Shami and Bumrah like Lord’s). In every other country, his test batting average is over 40. Rahane is one of the few batsmen whose away test batting average is higher than his home average. He does play some glorious and decisive innings every now and then. His has two centuries in tests at Melbourne, one at Lord’s and one in Wellington. India have never lost a test in which Jinks has scored a century – he has 12 in all. Unfortunately for India and for Jinks, these great innings are too few and far between. It may be time for him to go. 7 years into Virat Kohli’s captaincy. Only 5 specialist batsmen have got their Test caps since then. Karun Nair Hanuma Vihari Prithvi Shaw Mayank Agarwal Shubhman Gill None of them has stabilized the position in Test xi! Given below is the performance of the top 6 batsmen in the three tests so far: Rohit Sharma 230 runs @ 46.00 Kannur Rahul 252 runs @ 42.00 Che Pujara 162 runs @ 32.40 Virat Kohli 124 runs @ 24.80 Ajinkya Rahane 95 runs @ 19.00 Rishabh Pant 87 runs @17.40 It is clear that Kohli and Rahane are totally out of form. Pant is also going through a horrible patch and is not delivering at No.6. If Kohli and Rahane don’t perform in the last two tests, India could be in trouble. Maybe the team think-tank can induct Surya Yadav into the team and ask him to bat at No. 5 in place of Rahane.
Paul
Roar Guru
I think it's a good move to bring in guys to keep your fast bowlers fresh, but the batting's the problem. If changes aren't made to numbers 3,5 & 6, India will continue to struggle to make competitive totals. They got away with it at Lords, but I doubt greatly that sort of effort can be repeated, now England has had more time to bowl at the tail.
Paramdeep Rathee
Roar Rookie
Yes Paul and we as a fans expects virat to add Ash into the squad........Shardul Thakur has figures of 11-233 in the two tests he has played in, at the Gabba and Trent Bridge. This gives him a bowling average of 21.18. He also has a batting average of 23.00 in these two tests. It seems advisable to include him in the playing XI. The conditions at the Oval, where the 4th test will be played, favour spinners. Hence both Ashwin and Jadeja are likely to get the nod there. However Thakur would be a good bet as the fourth seamer at Old Trafford for the fifth test.
Paramdeep Rathee
Roar Rookie
Yes, lan the familes are with them..........i do agree with your points........the thing with also annoy me is that they don't play enough practise games and even dont take them seriously. These bunch of players are brand in themselves......So being an Indian supporter its our duty to stand with them weather they win or loose ...... hopefully we can bounce back just like after Adelaide 36
Ian
Roar Rookie
Keep your chin up Paramdeep! This a wonderful test series that has gripped the UK like nothing we’ve seen since 2005.The newspapers are full of it.There’s good coverage on the TV and even the EPL obsessed radio stations have given it decent coverage.I’m sure India will come roaring back and it will be interesting to see how England react to that.One thing here that does annoy me here is little is said about how long India have been in the UK.The media here love to make excuses for English teams on tours about how difficult it is to be away from home for so long but we rarely extend the same courtesy to visiting teams here.I think the Indian boys have been in the UK for over 3 months now.Are their families with them? They’ve got at least another 2 weeks before they can go home.Hopefully they can rally and give us the finale this great series deserves.
Paul
Roar Guru
One of the great characteristics India Test players have developed in recent times is resilience. This is a team that should have crashed and burned after that Test in Adelaide last year, but not only did that not happen, they came back and won that series. I fully expect Kohli's men to really focus in the next two Tests and if they get their cricket right, you and your friends should be enjoying more high moments in the coming weeks.