Ind vs Eng: Three Reasons why India lost Fifth Test against England at Edgbaston

IND vs ENG: Records are made to be broken, and England has made yet another record in Test cricket. The English team has won the fifth and final match against England at Edgbaston. They chased down a record total of 378 runs in the fourth innings to register their highest successful run-chase.

• IND vs ENG: Three reasons why India lost the fifth Test match against England
  • 1. The contributions from the Indian top-order!!
  • 2. Poor bowling effort
  • 3. Drop catches, Drop Matches!!!

Notably, this is also the first time that India has not been able to defend a target of 350+ in test cricket. India also registered this unwanted record of not being able to defend this huge target. But what went wrong, because India were dominating in the first three days of the game?

IND vs ENG: Three reasons why India lost the fifth Test match against England

1. The contributions from the Indian top-order!!

There is no doubt that a decade ago, India used to have players like Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, Ganguly, and Laxman in the same playing XI. That team, as compared to the current one, was far superior as compared to the current set-up. Speaking of the current match performance, apart from Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja none of the other batter made a significant role.

If you look at the above table, it will show that five of the six genuine Indian batters couldn’t perform. Pujara did score a half-century in the second innings but couldn’t carry on. Notably, Jasprit Bumrah (38 runs) and Mohammed Shami (29 runs) made more runs than some of our front-line batters.

2. Poor bowling effort

Despite the horrible performance of the batting department, a target of 378 is still defendable in Test cricket. Maybe nine out of 10 times, a team will feel confident in winning the match if they need to defend the target of over 350+ runs. But the major thing that went wrong was the major contribution of other bowlers to Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

Bumrah and Shami did the hard work, but the other bowlers were below par. If you check the numbers, you will see what actually went wrong. India went with the strategy of four pacers and one spinner. They picked up Siraj and Shardul Thakur, but that might have backfired on them. Notably, these two pacers didn’t have a great IPL season for their respective franchises.

On the other hand, Umesh Yadav and Prasidh Krishna, who had an amazing IPL, were forced to sit out. Siraj picked up four wickets in the first innings, but those were off the tailenders. He ended up with a match figure of 4/164 in 26.3 overs at an economy of 6.23 in test cricket.

The economy of 6+ in a red-ball game is not acceptable at all. Maybe he has carried his form because he conceded the most sixes in the IPL this season. On the other hand, Shardul Thakur, who was picked for his batting ability, scored five runs in two innings. He picked up only one wicket in the match and gave away 113 runs in 18 overs at an economy rate of 6.27.

3. Drop catches, Drop Matches!!!

Despite having some poor performances with both bat and ball, India were ahead in the match. But if you are going to drop catches and miss run-outs, then there is no chance that you will make a comeback. In the first innings, Virat Kohli dropped Jack Leach. Then Shardul Thakur and Jasprit Bumrah dropped a catch by Ben Stokes.

But the impactful drop came in the second innings. Firstly, it was Rishabh Pant who dropped Jonny Bairstow when he was at 11*. Then it was Hanuma Vihari who dropped Bairstow when he was at 39*. And if you give two chances to a player like Bairstow, you will pay for that.