So, India lost the Headingley Test, a result that seemed highly improbable at various stages of the game. It’s not every day that two ends up being greater than five, as the two hundreds scored by England batsmen ended up being more decisive than the five managed by the Indians.
But what it does confirm is that it’s a team game where the contribution of every individual in the eleven matters. Apart from the five hundreds, the highest score by an Indian across the two innings was 42 by KL Rahul in the first essay.
In contrast, apart from the hundred by Ollie Pope and the match-winning century by Ben Duckett on the final day, there were four half-centuries from England’s side, including a 99 by Harry Brook in the first dig. Add to that, Jamie Smith’s composed unbeaten knock of 44 on the fifth afternoon and one has the recipe for a team effort overcoming stellar efforts from a handful of players.
A lot has been said about India’s over-reliance on Jasprit Bumrah in the bid to take 20 wickets in a match. But the first Test showed that the team often had nowhere else to go to even keep the opposition batsmen in check. Rookie skipper Shubman Gill seemed lost for ideas, especially on the fifth day, and had to bring on his trump card far more regularly than he would have liked, and the England batsmen had the option of seeing him off and making hay against the others while putting miles into Bumrah’s system, that could prove decisive as the five-match series moves on.
It hasn’t been long since the Indian pace battery was considered to be the envy of the cricketing world with Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj forming a potent trio with an assembly line of youngsters providing hope for the future. But the fitness issues plaguing Bumrah and Shami, allied with Siraj’s inconsistency, have pricked the balloon.
That England had a shot at an unlikely win on the last day had a lot to do with India’s collapses in both innings. The visitors’ camp must have been cock-a-hoop after the first day, but when a team loses its last seven wickets for 41 runs, what could have been a huge score ends up being just a decent one, while handing the bowling team a shot in the arm and all the momentum.
It wasn’t a one-off as India lost their last six wickets for just 31 in the second innings, meaning a potential victory target of around 450 was reduced to 371, which England considered well within their reach. The highest individual score for Nos 8-11 across the two innings was Shardul Thakur’s 4 in the second.
Chalk and cheese
Compare it to the contributions from the lower order in the England first innings – Chris Woakes (38), Brydon Carse (22) and Josh Tongue (11). The hosts were almost 50 runs behind the follow-on target when they lost their fourth wicket, but their last six wickets put on 240 runs, more than doubling the score. Even in the fourth innings, England needed 69 runs to win when they lost their fifth wicket, but the nerveless Smith more than held his own in the partnership with Root.
The bottom order cannot always be relied upon to get a lot of runs, and they would be more adept in familiar conditions. But what would disappoint the Indian think tank is that the tail-enders got out trying extravagant shots when there was a competent batsman at the other end – Ravindra Jadeja on both occasions.
The fielding was also some of the shoddiest seen in recent years. Not only were seven catches dropped – Yashasvi Jaiswal the guilty party on four occasions – but the Indians were unusually sloppy on the ground as well. Granted that the Headingley outfield was not in pristine state, but the effort was not of Test class.
Test cricket is played over five days, but small passages can exert disproportionate influence on the final outcome. That’s why it demands sustained intensity and fitness – mental and physical – over a long period. Little things add up to make an impact on the game, that’s why it pays to never give up. It would have been easy for Ben Stokes and his team to believe, at various stages, that the game was beyond them and focus on damage limitation. But they never stopped trying to win the game.
Their decision at the toss was roundly criticised, but as Stokes said after the game, “it’s good that a Test match is played over five days”.
All to play for
So, the hosts are 1-0 up without playing their best cricket. India would feel that it was a close game – it’s rare for a Test these days to go into the final session of the fifth day – and it wouldn’t have taken a lot to reverse the result.
Looking ahead to Birmingham, India would do well to pick their best six batsmen and five best bowlers, subject to Bumrah’s involvement. There’s not much merit in picking a bowler who may not be the most penetrative, but is more likely to get some runs down the order. Thakur may have got two lucky wickets – off successive deliveries – with indifferent offerings on the fifth day, but left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav is a more potent threat any day of the week.
Having said that, the late order has to pull its weight with the bat as every little contribution counts. Better fielding would help too. The top and middle order largely did their job, but if they are not scoring hundreds, they need to ensure that they are involved in significant partnerships so that collapses can be avoided.
England have included speedster Jofra Archer in their squad, but whether he plays his first Test in four years remains to be seen. That India managed to keep their bowling attack under pressure for a long time in Leeds would give the visitors hope. It’s now a question of doing the good work for longer.
A long series allows a team to make a comeback after a poor start. Gill would have gone through the whole gamut of emotions in his first match as India captain – first the ecstasy of scoring a hundred in his first innings as skipper, and then watching helplessly as England made a mockery of, what seemed on paper, a mountain to climb.
Gill and the coaching staff now need to convince the team that it’s still early days in the series.