Headingley: Meek surrender – you wouldn’t find a better form of expression to describe the Indian batting collapse on the fourth day of the third Test at Headingley against England.
Starting the day at 215 for 2, skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara were expected to begin from where they finished yesterday, but alas, what we witnessed was wickets falling like a pack of cards handing out the hosts a memorable an innings and 76-run victory enabling them to break even (1-1) in the five-match series so far.
The barbs hurled at Joe Root and his boys turned out to be a blessing and disguise for the Englishmen as they succeeded in keeping the ghosts of the Lord’s Test behind to prevent India from taking an unassailable lead in the series.
Disgusting to say the least, as we saw a celebrated batting lineup made a mockery of by the pace and swing of Ollie Robinson (5/65) and Craig Overton (3/47) in the second innings.
A dismal 78 in the first innings gave the English team the firepower to come hard on Kohli and his boys with a gigantic 432 in its first innings. Team India showed some resilience in their second innings though with Rohit Sharma, Pujara and Kohli getting fifties, but just when they looked on course, the vulnerability was exposed.
In our analysis before the beginning of the Test, we had warned the Indians of not getting carried away by over confidence following the historic win at Lord’s – to our exasperation and shock, it did them in, and this time even the verbal duels on the field didn’t come to their rescue.
The defeat will bite them hard for sure, but instead of brooding over it – put it behind and recharge your batteries to resuscitate in the next Test. You guys have done it in the past and there is no reason why history can’t repeat itself.
Go, boys, go!
