The seven-wicket defeat to England in Edgbaston has again brought the spotlight on the batting deficiencies that India have been grappling with, especially overseas.
Not for the first time have such deficiencies cropped up in Indian cricket. The failure of the top-order had led to the twin losses in South Africa earlier this year. It continued in Birmingham as India surrendered the advantage on the fourth morning. To expect the likes of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja to do the rescue act on every occasion won’t be fair.
“In the second innings, we have not batted as well,” Rahul Dravid said on Tuesday. “If you look at all the third innings of these two Test matches overseas and this one, the batting has also probably not been up to scratch. In both areas, we have sort of started the Test matches well but we haven’t been able to finish well.”
In the absence of the settled opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, it was expected that seniors such as Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli would play their role to perfection. While Pujara did show intent in the second innings, Kohli’s consistent failures are proving to be a burden for the team.
The former India captain, who has been without a century across formats since November 2019, has fallen out of the top-10 ICC Test rankings for the first time since 2016. Kohli, who only managed scores of 11 and 20 at Edgbaston, fell four spots to No. 13.
The closest Kohli came to recording his 71st international century was the 79 in the first innings in Cape Town in January this year. The second innings failures have continued to haunt him as India lacked cohesion at the top.
The undue pressure on the late order could have had disastrous consequences but for men like Pant. The top-order’s failures have resulted in two defeats in South Africa, when India failed to defend 240 and 212 in successive Tests.
In England, Kohli finished the five-match series with 249 runs at an average of 27.66. Hardly inspiring for a batsman who boasts to be one of the best in the business. Unless he manages to arrest the slide, the calls to reconsider his place in the XI will continue to keep growing.
It’s not just Kohli but also newcomers like Shubman Gill and Hanuma Vihari who will continue to face questions. The way Gill chased deliveries outside the off stump in both innings at Edgbaston has not escaped the national selectors’ radar either.
There is already a move to try out Gill in the middle-order once Rohit and Rahul are back. But Gill is considered by the powers-that-be to be too talented to be left out if he doesn’t get runs.
Vihari’s case is no less intriguing. He hasn’t really been able to replicate the form since his heroics Down Under in 2021. He was found alarmingly wanting against the moving ball in this Test and hardly looked inspiring.
Also, Shreyas Iyer’s inability to tackle the short ball is an aspect which will put his place in overseas Tests under a doubt.
“The problem is you don’t have an immediate solution. There aren’t too many substitutes available right now.
The Sarfaraz Khans are still not ready for the international level,” said a former national selector.
But unless the recurring problems get immediate attention, the pitfalls of the Edgbaston loss will continue to rear their ugly head overseas.
