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After India’s embarrassing loss to England in the first test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, where the Barmy Army chased down the 371-run target with 5 wickets to spare. Many ex-cricketers and experts are questioning the team combinations and strategies that the coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubhman Gill adopted. Former cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin is also among those who questions the suboptimal batting done by the lower order batsmen.
While talking on his YouTube channel Ash ki Baat he lauded Rishabh Pant while sarcastically questioning the inability of lower order batsmen to contribute to the total. He said, “If I was Gautam Gambhir I would request a batter like him (Rishabh Pant) to go for a 200 next time you’re on 130 because you know your lower order can’t contribute much.” In the recently concluded test match which was played at the Leeds, it happened for the first time in 148 years history of test cricket that India lost after witnessing five centuries. Many former cricketers including Ashwin as part of the post match analysis, questioned the below par batting performances of the lower middle order of Indian side.
In the first innings of the test match, the top order of the Indian batting lineup batted well with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubhman Gill and Rishabh Pant going past triple figures. But as they departed to the pavilion it appeared that the Indian batting lineup collapsed like a house of cards, as the players after Pant’s dismissal (453/6) could only manage to get 18 runs (471/10). The similar predicament was visible in the third innings when the Indian side was batting again. This time also KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant spearheaded the batting attack scoring 137 and 118 respectively. But the lower order again went down after KL Rahul’s dismissal (333/5) to just scoring 31 runs (364/10). If we compare it to England’s batting. While chasing 471 after India’s first innings, after Jamie Smith’s wicket (349/6) their lower order remained strong and added 116 runs till they were all out (465/10).
It’s a blessing to have someone like Pant: Ashwin
While lauding the valiant knocks played by Rishabh Pant, Ashwin said, “ It is a blessing to have someone like him, the way he batted was outstanding.” Wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant smashed centuries in both the innings of the match, 134 and 118. After former Zimbabwean cricketer and ex coach of Indian team Andy Flower he is the only wicketkeeper batsman to do so in red ball format.
Following the loss in the first match at Leeds. Indian cricket team will look to equal the tally of the series in the second test match of the series which will be played at Birmingham from 2nd July 2025.
