India suffered yet another collapse in the Leeds Test as England pulled off a comfortable innings victory and levelled the five-match series 1-1 this Saturday.
Starting the day another 139 runs short of making England bat again, India lost their resurgent No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara with a misjudgement outside off-stump. Resuming his innings at the overnight score of 91, Pujara got out LBW after shouldering arms to a full-pitched delivery from Robinson.
That wicket once again shifted the momentum back in England’s favour. After a valiant fight on Day 3 led by Pujara, Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli, Men in Blue headed into the penultimate morning with a greater sense of confidence behind them. But all their hopes were crushed in a horrible first session that saw them slip from 215/2 to 278 all out.
Pujara’s wicket was soon followed by that of Kohli, who had batted with great restraint and discipline for his first half-century of the series (55), but had another bitter end to his stay at the crease with Robinson forcing him to play an outswinger from very close to the off-stump. And not for the first time in the series, the Indian skipper had to walk back to the pavilion after edging a ball through to slips.
Once Pujara and Kohli fell, a procession of cheap wickets followed, starting with that of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane. Under great scrutiny for his poor form and prolonged inconsistency, Rahane had batted reasonably well for his 24-ball 10 before on the 25th delivery he got out nicking behind to Anderson.
An over later, Robinson got Rishabh Pant edging through to the slips as well. Pant had a wave of anticipation surrounding his batting ahead of this series because of the exploits in Australia and at home against England in February-March.
But it was another painstaking innings for him in the current series, where Pant has shown no confidence over his defensive technique. This has partly led to question marks whether he – at No.6 – is batting a spot too high in English condition.
With Pant struggling, Ravindra Jadeja was once again left to fight it out alone at the crease, with India’s weak tail inspiring no confidence and making his life extremely difficult. By the time Jadeja still admirably reached an attacking 30 off 25 balls, India had lost Mohammed Shami (6), Ishant Sharma (2) already at the other end.
And then, with half his mind consumed thinking of how to protect No.10 Jasprit Bumrah, Jadeja made an error in judgement outside off and was out nicking to Craig Overton.
Two balls later, Overton similarly dismissed No.11 Mohammed Siraj, and India’s misery was over, a dreadful morning session ending in a dreadful result for the tourists after enjoying the highs of Lord’s where they had made the hosts look just as vulnerable.
The game was lost in the first half itself where India were bundled out in a session and a half and then had to stay in the field with a tiring seam attack till the start of Day 3.
Despite a loss highlighting so many of their flaws, India will feel optimistic of a revival heading into the next Test at The Oval, given England’s own problems, especially as a batting unit on either side of skipper Joe Root.
Brief scores
India 78/10 (Rohit Sharma 19, Ajinkya Rahane 18; James Anderson 3/6, Craig Overton 3/14) & 278/10 (Cheteshwar Pujara 91, Rohit Sharma 59, Ollie Robinson 5/65, Craig Overton 3/47) lost to England 432/10 (Joe Root 121, Dawid Malan 70; Mohammed Shami 4/95, Jasprit Bumrah 2/59) by an innings & 76 runs
