It was just an embarrassing showing by the Indian team, at Leeds, in the first Test against England, that they lost by five wickets on Monday. One can argue, that there was no support from the pitch, but then the team failed collectively. Insidesport takes a look at the Indian players’ report card for the match.
Rishabh Pant Leads Batting Charge
Yashasvi Jaiswal (7/10): Jaiswal deserves a lot of credit. Even though he failed in the second innings, but in the first, he scored 101, despite many hiccups. He showed the way to the other Indian batters, that they too can score some runs in England. For this inexperienced side, that was invaluable. He set the tone for 471 as well. It is needless to say, he is India’s most consistent batsman ever since he has made his debut.
KL Rahul (9/10): Rahul is one of the most senior members of the team, after the departure of R Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. And he has done immensely well, as a part of the leadership group, and most importantly, as the second opener of the side. He was very patient for his 42 in the first innings, but was unlucky to miss out on a big score in the first innings. But he was ready for the second, and 137.
Sai Sudharsan (3/10): There is a long way to go for this debutant, but it seemed like, he wasn’t ready for the challenge. The incoming swinging ball seems to trouble him, but time might correct that. After a duck in the first innings, he scored 30 in the second. One feels, he might be dropped from the second Test.
Centuries Galore for India, Against England
Shubman Gill (7/10): The skipper’s record in SENA countries is a big cause of concern, but he gave a strong reply to all doubters. In the first innings, he came up with a flawless 147. Second innings was a miss as he could manage only 8. But what still is a problem is his captaincy. He made some very ordinary decisions on the park. Underutilization of Shardul Thakur was one.
Rishabh Pant (9.5/10): Superb, Superb, Superb. That is the only way to describe what Rishabh Pant achieved. He is only the first Indian keeper to score back-to-back tons in the same Test, after Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower. He was just flawless. Yes, luck did play its part too, but all credit must go to Pant alone.
Karun Nair (2.5/10): Got out for 0 in the first innings, and then 20 in the second. But it seems like, he is a solid batter and has a lot to offer on this tour. Despite this bad effort, he might be persisted with, for the next few matches.
Bowling Unit Fails Collectively
Ravindra Jadeja (1.5/10): Scored 36 runs in all and returned with 1 wicket. He looked decent with ball in the first innings, but just did not look like picking up a wicket in the second. He should have bowled better, given his vast experience.
Shardul Thakur (2.5/10): Failed while batting, and didn’t get enough overs to bowl. But truth be told, in whatever overs he got.. he wasn’t good enough. Yes, he did pick up two back-to-back wickets, but it was a case of too little, too late.
Mohammed Siraj (0.5/10): This is a perplexing case. Mohammed Siraj is second-in-command to Bumrah, but hasn’t done justice to that tag. 2/122 in the first innings at an economy of 4.5 and 51 runs in the second is just poor.
Jasprit Bumrah (6/10): He picked up a fifer in the first innings and went wicketless in the second. Not his fault at all. He tried his best, and bowled a lot of overs. He did everything in his powers to deliver for the country. His support bowlers were poor.
Prasidh Krishna (4/10): He bowled well in patches, got five wickets in the match, but to have economy of 6 in both the innings, is just criminal. He has shown some potential, but has to work on his tendency of giving loose deliveries.
