‘Even proper batters fail’ – Gambhir backs lower order after collapses

'Even proper batters fail' – Gambhir backs lower order after collapses

India's fight ran out in the twilight of the fifth and final day's play at Headingley. After controlling the tempo but never quite slamming the door shut, they watched England complete a 371-run chase with clinical ease. It was India's seventh defeat in their last nine Tests, and perhaps the most frustrating of the lot, because they had no business losing it.

India scored 835 runs in the game, produced five individual centurions, including a century in each innings from Rishabh Pant, and still came up short. The reason? Two collapses that came like echoes.

They lost 7 for 41 in the first innings, and 6 for 31 in the second. The first unravelled what could've been a demoralising scoreboard for England, who won the toss, and allowed them to come within six runs of India's 471 and turn the match into a second-innings shootout. The second collapse hit harder, it left India defending 371, a target in the range England have chased before, and one they never looked out of.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir refused to pin the loss on a lack of application from the lower order. "Look, first of all, it's not that they weren't applying themselves. Sometimes people fail. And that's okay… Even proper batters fail. Hopefully they'll learn, and hopefully we'll get better performances from our tail. And that is not the only reason we lost the Test match."

The other big reason was the shoddy catching efficiency. India put down as many as seven catches in the game, with Yashasvi Jaiswal a repeat offender. After shelling three in the first innings, Jaiswal put down another on the final day running in from deep square leg. The reprieved batter on 97, Ben Duckett, went on to compile a match-defining 149.

Gambhir refused to hide behind the 'young team' narrative for the loss. "Every defeat is bad. It's not about a young team or an experienced team. It's an Indian team. We take pride in winning each and every game for our country. A young team is not an excuse. We represent 140 crore proud Indians. We will try and give our absolute best. There are no excuses. We will turn up every Test match thinking that we can win the test match and win the series."

Meanwhile, Gambhir confirmed that pace ace Jasprit Bumrah would play only two more Test matches, as per a pre-series plan to manage his workload. But a decision on which those would be wasn't yet taken. "No, we won't change the plans. I think for us to manage his workload is more important because there's a lot of cricket going forward and we know what he brings on the table as well."