England’s batting coach Jonathan Trott believes the visitors won’t be helping themselves if they blame the Ahmedabad pitch for their defeat. Trott feels his team could have done better on the challenging wicket and if they had scored 250-300, it would have been a different ball game altogether.

In fact, England had won the crucial toss ad decided to bat first but couldn’t make the most of it. The tourists were 74-2 in the first innings but they lost their last eight wickets for only 38 runs and crumbled like a pack of cards.

Axar Patel was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts as he returned with six wickets in the first essay. The visitors’ batsmen couldn’t show the gumption on the challenging pitch as they were bundled out for a paltry score of 112 runs.

England made a solid comeback in the game as they skittled out the hosts for 145 runs in the first innings and thus conceded a lead of mere 33 runs. However, the hosts snuffed out the Joe Root-led team for a meager score of 81 runs in the second innings. Ergo, India had to chase down only 49 runs to win the match.

“I thought it was tricky at times for everybody to play on, obviously pretty dry and that’s what we have seen here in India. We had first use for it, so we would have like to score more runs and put India under a bit of pressure. We saw when we bowled well, we could restrict them too. 

“I always like to see what we could have done better instead of blame things. If we could have got 200 or 250 in the first innings, it would have been a different game. The mentality (mental approach) of batting in the second innings would have been very different. So looking and blaming the pitch, I think, would be doing ourselves a disservice. Yes, the ball did spin and there were balls which skid on but it was the same for both sides,” said Trott in the virtual press conference. 

Trott added that the lads are disappointed but it is crucial to focus on the next match. England’s batting coach revealed that the players are hurt in the dressing room and they will need to pick themselves up in the next game.

England will need to come up with better plans and they will look to execute their skills better with the bat. The visitors didn’t show much application in the previous Test match and they will aim to turn the tables in the upcoming match.

The fourth Test match will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad from March 4.