INDIA’S DEFEAT IN CHENNAI TEST RAISES SEVERAL QUESTIONS

Team India`s defeat at Chennai against England raises myriad questions, whether they are still recovering from the winning streak at Brisbane being the biggest one. Did India under-estimate the England spinners, Joe Root and the sultan of swing James Anderson? Nevertheless, India needs to strive on a war-footing to get rid of their basic weaknesses. Here are some of the obvious reasons as to why India could not claim the win over England in the first test:

FALTERING OPENING

Opener batsman Rohit Sharma lost his wicket way too early in both the innings. In the second inning, his weakness against the left arm spinner was again exposed. His front-foot was on leg-stump when he was dismissed by the England leg spinner Jack Leach.

CATCHES WIN MATCHES

India dropped five catches in the first innings and proved vert costly.In the first innings, Rishabh Pant dropped two catches, Ashwin, Pujara and Rohit Sharma dropped one each. It is strange that India dropped a total of 31 catches in all three formats in Australia. At the same time, England players took excellent catches in the field during the Chennai test.

GIVING AWAY EXTRAS

Team India gave away 45 extra runs in the first inning and seven runs in the second. This included 27 no-balls. However, England spent a total of 20 extra runs in both the innings which included only two no balls.

CAPTAINCY

Is Virat’s leadership a hole in the boat? Virat`s captaincy is also being questioned. Every new session should have started with pressure, but Virat started sessions with under-experienced bowlers like Shahbaz Nadeem, and did not try Bumrah or Ashwin.

SWEEP-SHOT IS THE PANACEA

Indian batsmen did not learn from Joe Root’s batting who dodged spinners using sweeps and reverse sweeps. And, this put indian batsmen in a vulnerable spot in front of spinners Jack Leash and Dom Bess.

UNSTABLE MIDDLE-ORDER

Ajinkiya Rahane’s batting was way too irresponsible. In the first innings, he lost his wicket on a full toss and in the second innings, it was suicidal for him to have such a huge gap between his bat and the pad. Pujara`s early dismissal in the second innings also proved costly.