LONDON: The loss at the Lord's Cricket Ground brought to fore a serious problem ailing Indian cricket. Be it defending or chasing targets, India have quite often squandered the advantage to concede the match in fourth innings.
Chasing 193 against hosts England in the third Test was never going to be easy but it definitely was not an improbable task. One good first session could have tilted the match in India's favour but batters apparently succumbed under pressure to hand Ben Stokes-led England a famous win at the home of cricket.
Only a few days ago, India were in a commanding position when they lost wickets in heaps in both the innings to allow England make a comeback and win the match. In Leeds, they were cruising at 430/3 riding on three centuries from their batters but then went on to lose seven wickets for 31 runs to be bowled out for 471. The next innings was no different as Shubman Gill's team lost seven wickets for 77 runs to get bundled out for 364. The target of 371, however, was not easy but this time the bowlers failed to click and the dropped catches didn't help the team's cause either as England won the match by five wickets.
It was the same three years ago when England overhauled a mammoth target of 378 in Birmingham. Similar was the tale in Johannesburg and Cape Town in 2022 when hosts South Africa got over the line chasing targets above 200 on the surfaces known to assist pacers.
Who can forget the match played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru last year. From 408/3, they went on to lose seven wickets for just 54 runs in the first Test against New Zealand. The big collapse meant the Rohit Sharma-led team conceded the match, first at home to Kiwis since 1988, by eight wickets. The list goes on, be it their contest against South Africa at the SuperSport Park Stadium, Centurion in 2023 or their match against Australia at Holkar Stadium in Indore in the same year. In Leeds, India were bowled out for 78 from 56/3 four years ago. The dramatic collapse meant the hosts went on to win the game by an innings.
Not only defending, chasing small but tricky targets, especially in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, have been an issue for the Indian team for a long time. They have successfully chased down targets in fourth innings in SENA only 11 times out of 73 matches. On the contrary, India ended up on the losing side on 37 occasions. Interestingly, out of these 11 victories, the targets were more than 100 runs only on five occasions. The famous Gabba Test victory (328 runs) in 2021 is their highest successful chase in SENA countries.
Last year, they could not successfully chase a target of 147 runs against New Zealand in Mumbai. The Hyderabad match against the same opponents was no different as the hosts lost the match by 28 runs chasing a target of 231. During the 2018 tour of England, India lost the matches in Southampton and Birmingham chasing manageable targets of 245 and 194, respectively. Similarly, they lost a match against South Africa by 72 runs in Cape Town in 2018 while chasing a target of 208 runs. In 2015, they were bowled out for 112 while chasing 176 in Galle, Sri Lanka.
Gill was rightly asked the question in the post-match press conference and he admitted the team could have done better in those small sessions that cost them the match. "...if we look at the majority of the days in 15 days, we won more sessions than them. But the sessions that didn't go well for us, they went really bad. So we have to find that balance. These are small margins that are important in any series," he told reporters.
One bad session can cost a team dear in the Test matches and history is replete with such instances. India themselves have lost quite a few matches because of it but they cannot afford to repeat the mistake as any slip-up in Manchester will hand the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy to England rendering the fifth Test at the Oval, London redundant.