Sunil Gavaskar wasn’t happy at all with the performance of the Indian top and middle-order as they produced another poor batting performance on the first Day of the fourth Test match of the series at The Oval.
Even though skipper Virat Kohli and lower-order batter Shardul Thakur got fifties, India got bundled out for a total of only 191 runs. All of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja got dismissed cheaply and Gavaskar criticized them and also told the reason behind their failures.
“You see the length that is being bowled and see where the batsmen are playing. They are so far committed to the front foot, it’s very difficult for them to drop their bats. They just tend to sort of go for it. If you’re on the backfoot just that little bit, you have that nanosecond to drop your wrists and let the ball go,” Gavaskar said while speaking on the Sony Sports Network.
Openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul could manage scores of only 11 and 17, whereas Cheteshwar Pujara went back to the pavilion for a meager contribution of four runs.
“You may look like an idiot but you’d still be batting. Whether you look like an idiot or look great, it doesn’t go down in the scorebooks. It’s the number of runs you score. When you follow the ball like Pujara has been doing – he is committed to the front foot – you get yourself into trouble,” Gavaskar said pointing at Pujara’s dismissal.
The Indian bowlers have got them back into the match though, as they have already claimed three English wickets, which also includes the wicket of their skipper Joe Root. England ended the day on a score of 53/3 and they trail India by 138 runs.
As far as the series scoreline goes, it is currently poised at 1-1. The first match at Trent Bridge ended in a draw. India played very well at Lord’s to register a superb victory, whereas England made an excellent comeback at Headingley to win the match.
