What were the reasons India lost against England in the 5th test? We have made a detailed analysis of the facts which were game-changing and lead England to chase their highest total against England.
After 15 years, India had the chance to win the test series in England. The series was 2-1 in India’s favor before heading into the final test at Edgbaston. Even after winning the 7 sessions out of 13, India lost the game merely in 5 sessions at the end. England defeated India by 7 wickets to end the series as a draw.
5 Reasons Why India Lost Against England-
1) India’s Batting Failure
Around 210 out of the total 650 runs scored by Team India in both innings were solely scored by Rishabh Pant. This depicts the failure of other batters. Only Ravindra Jadeja’s 104 in 1st innings & Pujara’s 66 in the 2nd innings were the major scores. Except for these, no one was able to touch the 40-run mark even once in both innings.
Virat Kohli is going through a new low phase of his career as he could barely manage a total of 31 runs in 2 innings combined. Did India missed Rohit the batsman? Or should they have gone with KS Bharat (who performed well for India in the warm-up game) instead of Hanuma Vihari? Many ifs & buts, however, nothing can be changed now.
2) India’s Poor Bowling in 4th Innings
Indian bowling line-up which was renowned for its lethal attack in overseas conditions was exploited by English batters in the 4th innings. Firstly, the openers dominated India with a 100+ partnership before Bumrah managed to dismiss Zak Crawley followed by Ollie Pope.
India bowlers had a nightmare as the lowest economy amongst them was of Jadeja, who had conceded runs at 3.3 runs per over, whereas Siraj was the most expensive one leaking the runs with 6.5 runs per over in a test match. That’s bizarre. No other bowler was able to pick a wicket in the 2nd innings except Bumrah.
3) Jonny Bairstow’s Catch Dropped By Hanuma Vihari
Even after having their regular slip fielders like Shreyas Iyer, and Shubhman Gill on the field, Hanuma Vihari was placed at the slip position along with Virat Kohli, and Hanuma Vihari did an unforgettable job. He dropped the catch of in-form batsmen, Jonny Bairstow, when he was on 14, in the 2nd innings. Someone needs to answer why Hanuma Vihari was placed at the slip position rather than the regular slip fielders?
4) Poor Captaincy By Bumrah
Rookie captain Jasprit Bumrah couldn’t cope with the captaincy pressure in the ultimate match of the series. Jasprit Bumrah who is the leading bowler for team India couldn’t rotate the bowlers significantly neither his field placement was appropriate( Hanuma Vihar at slip).
In the 4th innings, Bumrah bowled only 4 over spell and only came back into the attack after England had already crossed 100 runs on board with no loss. But, yes Bumrah did his job and took 2 wickets. But he could have brought himself up early.
5) BAZBALL
A term used by Paul Collingwood for the England team after their super hitting against New Zealand, which was the first series after the change in captaincy from Joe Root to Ben Stokes and the appointment of Brendon McCullum as the head coach. Baz is the nickname of Brendon McCullum and Ball is the term taken from baseball. This term refers to calculative hitting from ball 1 which the England team is doing.
England had won only 1 test out of 17 before Brendon McCullum was appointed the head coach and now has won 4 out of 4 tests.
Also Read, Stuart Broad concedes 35 runs in an over Against Bumrah