Team India has done the unthinkable. They have batted out 5 sessions after conceding a 311-run lead and kept England at bay. Trailing the series, 1-2, Team India needed to either win or draw the match to keep themselves alive. The latter has happened. We go into the Oval Test with two results on the board. England can’t lose the series, but India can draw it at 2-2.
Shubman Gill and co. will want to salvage a draw. The same happened last time, but the difference was that India was leading the series. A young team going to England and claiming a draw is an achievement in itself. Of course, to do that, Team India needs to address the positives and negatives from the Manchester Test.
7 takeaways for India from 4th England Test
Questionable tactics
India’s tactics were off at Old Trafford. The decision not to bowl Washington Sundar until the 69th over was head-scratching. He had just taken a 4-wicket haul at Lord’s, but still wasn’t trusted despite Liam Dawson and Ravindra Jadeja both being effective.
Why the fields were spread out moments before the new ball was taken didn’t make much sense either. Anshul Kamboj, a new ball bowler, wasn’t given the second new ball. In fact, he didn’t bowl after the 101st over despite England batting a total of 157.1 overs.
Shardul Thakur & Anshul Kamboj’s selection
Shardul Thakur did fine with the bat, scoring 41 in tough batting conditions. However, he bowled only 11 overs. If we add Kamboj’s quota, the total goes to 29. That’s less than 20% of the total overs. There are questions over Kamboj’s fitness, as his speed was in the low 120s. The question is, couldn’t Gill and Gautam Gambhir have played a proper batter instead of Shardul? If Kamboj wasn’t fit, why was he selected, and if he was fine, why didn’t he bowl more?
KL Rahul & Shubman Gill stand up when it matters
Shubman Gill had scored 603 runs and three hundreds. You’d expect that he’d be done for the series. The same goes for KL Rahul. The opener had scored 365 runs, two hundreds, and one fifty prior to the Manchester Test. But the hunger was there. Both didn’t just score big but batted big as well. Rahul played 230 balls and Gill 238. This just shows that they’ll be hoping to give their all again and continue to break records as they wish to level the series 2-2.
Sai Sudharsan stamps his authority
That duck in the last innings shouldn’t make everyone forget that Sai Sudharsan scored a crucial 61 in the first innings. India lost 3 quick wickets, and it was Sudharsan who glued the innings together. By the time he departed, India was in a good position. Showed he is meant to stay and should be given a long rope at number three.
Ravindra Jadeja & Washington Sundar’s all-round show
Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar score important 20s in the first innings, ensuring India doesn’t collapse. With the ball, they claimed 6 of the 10 wickets that fell. But the best bit was the third-inning vigil. With over 2 sessions still left to bat out, they both played 335 balls together and scored hundreds as well. They killed any chance of victory for England, and Stokes even asked to shake hands an hour before, but they denied it and continued to bat until getting to their centuries.
Kuldeep Yadav’s omission
On days two and three, the pitch went flat. Once in a while, the ball was kept low or jumped up. But all the bowlers seemed ineffective for the most part. One felt why Kuldeep Yadav wasn’t playing. Especially considering that Washington and Jadeja got 6 wickets. Kamboj and Shardul went at 5 runs an over and took 1 wicket in 29 overs. Kuldeep could have bowled the same quota and likely not just been more economical but also taken more wickets.
Bumrah & Siraj’s injury/workload assessment
Jasprit Bumrah didn’t bowl a delivery over 140 km in the Manchester Test. He looked tired and unmotivated at times. Bumrah also tripped on the stairs, injuring his ankle. In no condition will he play the Oval Test. The same goes for Mohammed Siraj; he injured his ankle as well.
Siraj has also played all 4 matches. It might not be the best decision to play him at the Oval. And this is where the issue arises. Akash Deep is injured, and so is Arshdeep Singh. Kamboj didn’t look his best either. Lots to ponder for Team India.
