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Accepting your mistake is the first step towards redemption and it seems India have, after they defied logic and played Kuldeep Yadav as the second spinner at Lord’s in dank, wet and overcast conditions last week.
Kuldeep and R Ashwin went wicketless as Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes took advantage the only dry day in the match, the third, to flatten India’s resolve after they were bowled out in virtually one session for 107.
Ravi Shastri, the India head coach, has now admitted that playing a second spinner in seamer-friendly conditions, was a mistake.
“In hindsight, it was an error,” Shastri said after India’s training in Nottingham on Thursday. “We should have gone, seeing the conditions, we could have gone with an extra seamer. That might have helped.”
But just like Indian captain Virat Kohli, Shastri, too, tried to defend the move. “Then again, you didn’t know how much it would rain,” he said. “Whether a match could go into the final day where just in case a spinner is needed and the ball started to turn, would we have needed him? But in hindsight the way things panned out, the amount it rained, the amount of time we lost, a seamer could have been a better option.”
Shastri isn’t one who broods for too long. He has clearly moved on and the priority now remains India’s batting rejuvenation after they have wilted miserably in the face of swing and seam unleashed by James Anderson and co.
Kohli aside, none of the Indian batsmen has shown the resolve and the nous to find a way out. Barring Kohli, no specialist Indian batsmen has even made 50 in all across four innings. Those who have shown resolve have batted in the lower middle order – Hardik Pandya and Ashwin, second and third in terms of runs.
The rut has start at the top with the openers failing. Apart from the 50-run stand M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan built in India’s first innings in the first Test, the openers have been left exposed. KL Rahul, who opened in the second Test after Dhawan was dropped, hasn’t found a solution either.
Even the experience pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have struggled. Rahane, who has the best average overseas, has fallen off after starting solidly, out to the slips in all four innings. Questions persist over his form, but Rahane has Shastri’s full support despite a modest 48-run tally at an average of 12.
“He is one of our pillars, he will remain one of our pillars,” Shastri said. But he also pointed out that if the batsmen have to bounce back, they ought be bold and gritty. “Conditions have been tough as you have seen right through this series. But that’s where character comes into play and mental discipline comes into play. The resolve to know where your off stump is, to leave a lot of balls, to be prepared to look ugly and dirty and show some grit.”
Nagraj Gollapudi is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo