India's batting crumbled once again on a seaming track – this time at the Oval here yesterday
England's Chris Jordan celebrates catching Ajinkya Rahane off his own bowling at The Oval yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
London: India's batting crumbled once again on a seaming track – this time at the Oval here yesterday.
England's Chris Jordan celebrates catching Ajinkya Rahane off his own bowling at The Oval yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
From the start of tour — apart from a couple of exceptional innings from Murli Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane — the Indian batsmen have been exposed through some deficiency.
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Gautam Gambhir looked in horrible form even in the nets, so it didn't come as surprise to see him struggle in the middle. The trend of his dismissals has been a constant for last two years across all formats.
Pujara's problem
Cheteshwar Pujara has been noted as a perfected technician, but India's No 3 has been bowled or trapped leg before wicket on 15 out of 34 instances in his career.
The percentage is close to 43 — unusually high for a player known for his strong defence. One of the issues Pujara has is that once so often the bat comes in an arc exposing a gap between his bat and pad. This along with his inclination to move his back foot across to off stump makes him lose the line of his off stump.
Ajinkya Rahane has looked a complete batsman on this tour, but his last three innings have been caught and bowled which suggests he is either been complacent or he is playing way in front of his body.
Virat Kohli has had a mental issue throughout the series. Once again yesterday, he was worked out by England perfectly. It was a series of outswingers and then an inswinger that left Kohli scrambled.
It was a case of misjudgment, but with form on his side and luck it could have been different. At least, Kohli had taken a different guard and was standing a lot more upright.
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