India are still smarting from the rout at Lord’s. The humiliation in the second Test has been difficult to stomach for most supporters. Frankly, it is an overreaction. Jimmy Anderson says English bowlers could have bundled out any side.
Unfortunately, heavy overcast conditions persisted only when India batted. England pace bowlers can be world beaters in such circumstances, and poor shots didn’t help India’s cause.
I was bemused by the overzealous attack on Indian cricketers. Did these critics expect India to turn the tables on England? Maybe the close finish at Edgbaston must have given them hope. I can understand the fury at the capitulation in both the innings. But was it surprising?
To me, it was not. Look at India’s recent overseas record. It is no secret that Indians are terrible tourists. Definitely, there has been some improvement. We seem to win a Test even if we lose the series. So, there’s hope. But that should not inflate into unrealistic expectations.
England has always been India’s Waterloo. Out of the 17 Test series in England since 1932, India have won only three. Certainly not an impressive record. That last two series were routs, although we won the first Test in 2014. So why would we harbour hopes of a win?
A victory would be a bonus. For the technique of Indian batsmen against the moving ball has always been suspect. Raised on pitches that are hardly conducive to lateral movement, Indians are caught flailing their bats at swinging deliveries.
English conditions call for significant adjustments to the batting technique. Strokes that reap runs in the subcontinent can be suicidal in England; playing across the line and wafting at outswingers have proved to be disastrous.
Even two of the greatest Indian batsmen have struggled in England. During their county stints, Sunil Gavaskar (Somerset, 1980) and Sachin Tendulkar (Yorkshire, 1992) were frustrated by the wet English weather, although they enjoyed tremendous success in Tests in England. Mohammad Azharuddin (Derbyshire), Saurav Ganguly (Lancashire), Rahul Dravid (Kent) fared better, but Chesteshwar Pujara’s fourth spell with Yorkshire has been a nightmare. This gives some insight into the Indian batting debacles.
How do you play swing bowling? Virat Kohli subscribes to Tendulkar’s school of reducing the swing by standing a few inches outside the crease. Ajinkya Rahane pursues Azharuddin method of standing well inside the crease to play the ball late. Pakistan’s Younis Khan scored tons of runs following Azharuddin’s advice to allow the ball to complete the swing before playing it.
The method doesn’t matter much. It’s how you employ it. In Test cricket, patience is a virtue that brings rewards. Leave the good deliveries and cash in on the erratic ones. That makes temperament the cornerstone of batting success. It is a quality that is in short supply these days. The surfeit of One-Day Internationals and T20 cricket is to blame.
Rewind to the Kohli-Anderson duel in Edgbaston. The English fast bowler persisted with the fourth stump line in the hope of eliciting an edge. Look at the number of deliveries Kohli preferred to leave. That’s temperament.
It’s a batting lesson worth emulating.
