India suffered a five-wicket defeat to England in the first Test at Headingley on Tuesday, as England successfully chased down 371 runs on the final day, prompting criticism from former players including Sunil Gavaskar who blamed poor batting, bowling, and fielding performances from the young Indian team under new captain Shubman Gill.The match saw five Indian batters, including captain Gill, score centuries. However, two significant collapses in both innings proved costly, with India falling from 430-3 to 471 all out in the first innings and 333-4 to 364 in the second innings.India’s fielding woes were highlighted when Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped Ben Duckett on 97, who went on to score 149 runs to guide England to victory.
“Full credit to England. Despite India having five centurions, they seemed to have that confidence. That is what made them take the final wickets. So that is where India also missed out because those extra runs could have made the difference. As far as the fielding was concerned, it’s just not the catch but the out-fielding was pretty ordinary. Not Test class,” said Gavaskar.“Very good pitch to bat on so very tough to criticise the bowlers. Bumrah bowled so well. If he had somebody, keeping it a bit tight, that would have been big help. But this is the first Test. Hopefully, lessons have been learned. There are eight days for the next match. “Jasprit Bumrah, who claimed 5-83 in the first innings, struggled in the second innings and went wicketless. Ravindra Jadeja also disappointed on the fifth-day pitch, taking just 1-104.
“I’m going to be critical of Jadeja because this is a final-day pitch. There was rough for him to play with, and in the end, I know there were a couple of chances there, but we have to expect more from Jadeja,” former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said.The Indian team, playing without retired veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, saw Duckett dominate Jadeja with a series of reverse sweeps, including a six over deep cover.India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir defended the lower-order batting performance: “I think they were more disappointed than anyone, because they knew we had the opportunity. Hopefully they’ll learn, and hopefully we’ll get better performances from our tail.”‘You want basics done right’Former India head coach Ravi Shastri pulled no punches and urged Gautam Gambhir to have a tough chat with the team in the dressing room.Speaking to Sky Sports Cricket, Shastri said Gambhir must address the team’s issues and hold individuals accountable, suggesting that he shouldn’t be afraid of upsetting some.“I think (there is) a big role of the coaching staff,” Shastri said.“Take the positives out of the contest. As a captain, he (Shubman Gill) has done more than what can be asked of him. He got a hundred; there were five hundreds scored in the game. If anything, you want the basics to be done better. There are things that are out of his control.“Dropping catches is not in his control. That’s where the team as a unit can work harder and get better. Similarly, when you come to bat, you’ve got to put a price tag on your wicket. You can’t come out and blow a situation where you can get about 550-600 by just being timid and meek.“These are the areas where you’ve got to be hard at times as a coach, really hard in that dressing room. There are certain things where you tick off a few guys. But, there were a lot of positives in this Test,” said Shastri.
