Getting beaten in England

The  crushing defeat in the second Test at Lord’s in London has ended India’s hope of a first series win in England in over a decade. The former players have changed their bullish tone and become critical of the team and its leadership. The numbers were indeed dismal. India lasted just 82.2 overs in their two innings — less than one full day’s batting. The match lasted less than three days! Former England captain Nasser Hussain rightly characterised the contest as “men vs boys”. It must be noted that conditions in England can be extremely challenging — an Indian team with legends such as Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman was crushed 4-0 in 2011. Also, India did get unlucky at Lord’s — rain made conditions very difficult when India batted, while England had a beautiful, sunny day to bat on for most of their only innings.

However, India’s batsmen deserve the criticism they’re getting because this is an experienced bunch — the top-five batsmen at Lord’s had a combined experience of 254 Tests. Lord’s exposed their technical and mental frailties. India’s batsmen are floundering. Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara have scored a total of 166 runs in this series; in contrast, Virat Kohli has scored 240 runs on his own. Kohli doesn’t have the best defensive technique in the team, but his mental toughness has come to the fore. The others need to emulate him if India is to avoid a 5-0 hammering.

The knives are out for Kohli and chief coach Ravi Shastri. India’s record under Shastri is poor on tough tours — with him in charge, India have lost Test series in Australia and South Africa, and now face humiliation in England. In the last few years, promising batsmen such as Vijay, Pujara and Rahane have regressed, and catching in the slip cordon has been very poor. Coach Shastri and his assistants have a lot to answer for.