India vs England: Gill & Co need to start from scratch at Old Trafford

A day after India succumbed to a 22-run defeat to England in a humdinger of a Test at Lord’s, it’s time to ponder the bigger picture. With the hosts 2-1 up after snatching wins from challenging positions at both Headingley and Lord’s, can Shubman Gill & Co. find a way to throw the gauntlet back at Old Trafford and The Oval?

Looking back, it has been a resilient show from the Indian batters and bowlers for the better part of the series, and there is no reason they can’t pull off an encore. The unpopular opinion, however, is that while there were several individual landmarks for Gill, Rishabh Pant, K.L. Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah, the young Indian team consistently failed to seize opportunities in both first and third Tests. This is something which head coach Gautam Gambhir has to drive home in the long gap ahead of the fourth Test.

The biggest plus for this team after the first three Tests, keeping in mind the mood swings of a billion fans, is that there has been no big clamour on social media to bring back the likes of a Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or Ravi Ashwin.

However, against a team as feisty as England and skipper Ben Stokes an embodiment of that spirit, India cannot afford to lose its grip over sessions time and again either with undisciplined bowling (63 extras in two innings at Lord’s), mindless shot selection (remember Yashasvi Jaiswal as India began the chase of 193) or catches dropped early on at Leeds.

It was not surprising to see the valiant Ravindra Jadeja’s unbeaten 61 or Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj’s rearguard action being lionised across Indian media, but tragic heroes don't win matches. There is no doubt that Jadeja, in the last leg of his international career, has been the most underrated of Indian cricket’s superstars, as he showed once again in a replay of his defiant half-century against New Zealand in the heartbreaking 2019 World Cup semi-final. The tragedy is, on both occasions, he failed to take the team over the line.

However, the die was virtually cast at Lord's once the Indian top order was packed off on day four with barely 50 runs on the board. It was too conservative a chase, illustrated by none other than the seasoned Karun Nair shouldering arms to a Brydon Carse in-swinger to be adjudged leg before again.

The no. 3 position will surely give the team management some worries in the coming days, with the dilemma centred around whether to bring back the young Sai Sudarshan and drop Nair altogether, or move him back to his no. 6 position.

As India looks to stay alive in the series, there will be a desperate call to convince Bumrah to play the fourth Test as he proved his worth again on an unresponsive wicket. While a good day in office saw him finish with 5/74 in the first innings, his economy rate was a mingy 2.38 in the second, where his figures were 16-3-28-2. Once again, there should be a call to make room for Kuldeep Yadav as India needs to play to its strengths at both remaining venues known to provide some assistance to spinners.

England, on the other hand, has been beefed up by the return of Jofra Archer after four years. His bowling in both innings showed that a quality fast bowler can get life out of placid tracks to make life difficult for batters — ask Rishabh Pant about the screamer which got him in the second innings.

A 2-1 lead in a five-Test series certainly bodes well from the hosts’ point of view, while India needs to start all over again to turn the tide in its favour.