Young India captain Shubman faces tough task of striking a balance between good and bad passages of play as a few bad sessions — which have gone terribly wrong — have put India down 1-2 in the five-match series against England despite bossing plenty themselves
India captain Shubman Gill (fourth from right) with teammates during the third day of the third Test against England at Lord’s on Saturday. Pic/PTI
It might appear outlandish to even imagine so. But with a little more application, greater smarts and the rub of the green going their way, India could so easily have already taken a winning 3-0 lead in the ongoing Test series.
Every mistake India have made has been ruthlessly punished by an England side that has perhaps been taken by surprise at the ferocity with which their reasonably inexperienced opponents have come at them. In Leeds, when they had the opportunity to bat England out of the contest — in both innings — India did themselves no favours with implosions of seven for 41 and six for 31, exacerbated by a series of dropped catches, to court a five-wicket hammering.
No edge after first innings
At Lord’s, they paid the price for a run out that should not have been. Rishabh Pant’s dismissal in the last over before lunch in a bid to get KL Rahul on strike so that he could get to three-figures before the break on Day Three was not necessarily the turning point, but it was a huge moment in the game. It was a moment that converted a potentially decisive first-innings lead to a situation where the teams were dead level after their respective first forays, which meant India had no edge when it came to tackling a tricky target on an up-and-down fourth-innings surface.
Maybe the cricketing Gods have deemed that it is better for Shubman Gill to learn these harsh lessons very early in his captaincy career. Gill himself was culpable of uncharacteristically getting into a slanging match with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett late on the third evening, which seemed to throw him off his composure. When he came out to bat with less than half an hour to stumps on Day Four, he didn’t resemble a batter with 601 runs in the series.
Tension-filled 2nd stint
Gill was tetchy and visibly tense when he reached out with expansive drives to successive wide deliveries from Brydon Carse. At no stage during his troubled 12-minute stay did he appear in control, the clearest indication that getting worked up doesn’t do for him what it did to the man he replaced at No. 4, former captain Virat Kohli.
If India feel they deserve better than being 1-2 down, it’s not without reason. But the cauldron of Test cricket is an unforgiving teacher and a ruthless taskmaster. India have bossed numerous sessions but when they have had bad ones, those have been terrible, game-changingly disastrous. It’s in striking the balance between the good and the not-so-good that India haven’t been up to scratch, something they will be desperate to amend when the sides resume battle at Manchester’s Old Trafford on Wednesday.
India are still in with a chance of adding to their three series triumphs in England, a remarkable accomplishment for a side where more than half the personnel hadn’t played a Test in England previously. Nearly every one of the 14 players utilised has pulled his weight, which is extraordinary. Even in crushing defeat, they have exemplified spunk and spirit. Surely, there will be a commensurate reward?
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