India got a lot of things right in their tour opener at Headingley. Rishabh Pant thrived with two audacious centuries. The openers did their job and laid the foundation with brilliant knocks. Their premier pacer made his presence count with a five-wicket haul.
The stars seemed to have aligned for the visitors, but in reality, they left the arena empty-handed after England sensationally chased down 371 runs in the final day.
What does India need to do to prevent another underwhelming result on English soil? They managed to share the spoils in their previous tour, but this time, bookies are considering them slight underdogs. Here are three things that we believe can help India flip the script and leave England with a satisfactory result.
Tighten Up Fielding
India recorded a two-decade low in Headingley. Shubman Gill’s men now hold the unwanted record for the most dropped catches in a Test in England over the past 20 years. This was arguably India’s sloppiest fielding performance in years.
For example, Shardul Thakur’s misfield after slipping was forgivable, but his delayed response in chasing the ball was not. As Rishabh Pant aptly put it from behind the stumps: “It’s okay to misfield, but you need to recover.”
Ben Duckett was the chief beneficiary of India’s fielding lapses. After getting lives in both innings, he punished the bowlers with a total of 211 runs, including a decisive 149 in the second innings, to seal the win and the Player of the Match award for England.
India cannot afford to be this wasteful in the remaining Tests against England. They’ll be hoping their players adapt quickly to the conditions and deliver a sharper fielding performance. Just as importantly, their captain needs to step up and lead with greater authority.
Shubman Gill Must Learn From His Mistakes
Jasprit Bumrah appeared to be the bookies’ favourite to inherit India’s Test cricket captaincy, after Rohit Sharma bid farewell to red ball cricket after the Australia Tour of India. But the responsibility ultimately went to Gill, the Punjab-born prodigy, who has regularly met soaring expectations with a composed brilliance.
But even for a generational talent like Gill, accepting the role of India’s Test captain was a big challenge. From a punter’s perspective, betting on cricket, especially in the longest format, largely depends on the captain’s ability to read the game and make smart decisions.
Individual brilliance can only take a team so far; if the captain fails to manage the match properly, it all unravels: just as we saw at Headingley.
According to former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, India’s fielding lapses in the series opener reflect a deeper issue.
“Every great team, no matter what year you’re playing, the one stand out feature they’ve always had is that they’ve been a great fielding team,” Haddin said.
“And I think that is one legacy Gill has to start to leave now on this team. He needs an attitude adjustment. If you want to field well and compete the whole time, it’s only attitude. You can do all your technical work off the field and have as many coaches as anyone, but it won’t matter. Even in the IPL this year, the catching was horrible. And that could be a byproduct,” he added.
What began as a dream start to Gill’s captaincy debut has quickly turned into a harsh reality check. With just six first-class matches as captain under his belt, he deserves some leeway, but if he takes too much time to settle into the role, it will cost India the series.
He has no choice but to grow into the role, and fast. The hardest part of leadership is knowing that you can’t command loyalty and fear with the same hand, at least, not without cost.
India Must Rethink Plan to Rest Bumrah
Bumrah proved once again why he is one of the best bowlers in the world by claiming five wickets in the first innings of the Headingley Test. The right-arm pacer has been India’s No.1 pace bowling threat in recent times, but India chose not to fully utilise him during the England tour.
India coach Gautam Gambhir has confirmed that the team will not reconsider its decision to rest Bumrah, despite the defeat in the first Test. However, without the Gujarati pace spearhead, India’s bowling attack loses much of its bite. Given India’s poor record in England, the call to rest Bumrah is beginning to look increasingly questionable.
The likes of Michael Vaughan, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Tom Moody, and Nasser Hussain have all questioned the wisdom of resting the world’s best Test bowler at such a high-stakes moment. Bumrah will play at Lord’s, but the Indian team management would be wise to scrap any plans of resting him in the remaining matches.
