Test series between England and India has been a topic of much discussion and debate in the cricketing world. The series consisted of five matches, with India emerging as the clear winner by a margin of 4-1. While India has every reason to be proud of their impressive performance, it is a great embarrassment for the English team.
Winning a Test series in India is widely regarded as challenging due to the home team’s dominance on their own soil. The Indian Test team is currently at the top of its game, having finished as the runners-up in the World Test Championship. Despite this, England was expected to put up a good fight, given its reputation as a strong cricketing nation.
However, things did not go as planned for England in this series. They only won the first match, after which they suffered four consecutive defeats. Notably, they could not secure a single draw in the series, which is a cause for concern.
This defeat has raised many questions about the state of English cricket and the team’s ability to perform on Indian wickets. It remains to be seen whether they can bounce back from this crushing defeat and perform better in the future.
James Anderson
The veteran fast bowler achieved a milestone in the series final match by taking his 700th wicket. However, despite his remarkable feat, he contributed little to England’s victory in the tournament.
He played only four matches and took just ten wickets, which is insufficient to win a series. Jimmy Anderson is the most potent bowler for England and has been playing international matches since 2003. He has been playing Test cricket for 21 years and is now 41.
Jimmy is the only player who has played Test cricket for a long time. England has no fast bowler as good as him, and no one can use the seam as well as he can.
But now, the situation is different. In the last four Test matches, he has taken only ten wickets, which means he can no longer be expected to win matches. It is not appropriate to keep him in the team with the sole purpose of setting a world record.
The world record for the highest number of wickets is 800, held by Muralidharan. It is not easy to beat that record, especially for Jimmy, who is 41 years old. At the current wicket-taking rate, Jimmy needs about 40 more Tests to beat this record, which will take at least three more years. By then, Jimmy will be 44 years old.
If England keeps Jimmy on the team waiting for that record, they will have to go to the bottom of the test rankings. It would be an insult to the history of English Test cricket if they committed to Jimmy in this manner. Therefore, Jimmy needs to be sidelined for England’s future Test victories, and he also needs to make a decision. Jimmy has served the England team outstandingly.
Why did England lose?
Despite high hopes, the senior batsmen of England – Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, and Ollie Pope – could not meet expectations regarding their batting performance.
Although there were some standout moments, such as Pope’s impressive score of 196 in the first Test and Root’s unbeaten 122 in the fourth Test in Ranchi, these individual contributions were ultimately insufficient to secure a victory for the team.
The English batters had their moments. Still, they could not sustain the momentum and deliver the consistent performance needed to achieve success.
Regarding how each player performed individually, Root scored a commendable 320 runs, while Bairstow scored 238.
On the other hand, Stokes could only manage to score 199 runs, and Pope scored 315 runs, bringing the total runs scored by these four batters to 1,072 runs over 10 innings.
This amounts to a combined average of 107 runs per innings and 25 runs per batter in each innings of a single Test. However, it is essential to question whether these runs will be enough to secure a victory in the series.
Compare with India
Upon analysing India’s performance, it was observed that the middle-order players Dhurv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Sarfaraz Khan, who were relatively inexperienced, performed exceptionally well. Jurel scored 190 runs in four innings, with an average of 63.
Jadeja scored 232 runs in six innings, averaging 38, while Sarfaraz scored 200 runs in five innings with an average of 50. Shubman Gill’s impressive stats also added to India’s middle-order strength, scoring 452 runs in nine innings at an average of 56.5. In comparison to England, India’s middle-order batting prowess was far superior.
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Yashasvi Jaiswal exhibited exceptional form during his recent innings, achieving an outstanding record of scoring 712 runs over nine innings. His impressive performance included two double hundreds and three fifties while maintaining an average of 89. Jaiswal’s remarkable ability on the field is a testament to his skill and dedication to cricket.
The opening pair of Jaiswal and Rohit was a force to be reckoned with. They stood together at the crease for nine innings, displaying an outstanding performance resulting in 1,112 runs. Their partnership averaged 123 runs, including two double centuries, two centuries, and four half-centuries.
These impressive feats were instrumental in India’s success on the field, as they played a leading role in securing essential victories. It is worth noting that Jaiswal and Sharma’s combined score exceeded the top four English batters, a testament to their exceptional skill and talent.
England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett scored a total of 750 runs, with Crawley scoring 407 runs in 10 innings and hitting 4 fifties. In comparison, Duckett scored 343 runs with a single century in 10 innings.
Although both batters performed well, the middle order failed to support them, which prevented their contributions from being valuable. When compared to the Indian opening batsmen, Crawley and Duckett performed well, but the overall team performance was lacking.
Bowling in both teams
The pitches become one of the main points of contention. Traditionally, India offers pitches that are more suited to spinners. Still, this time, the playing pitches were not rank turners, and they didn’t support the Pacers much, either. Despite this, India’s pace spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah, produced some magic with the ball, finishing with an impressive 19 wickets in eight innings of four Tests he played.
It was noteworthy that Bumrah took more wickets than James Anderson (10) and Mark Wood (4) combined – a testament to how India is not only about spinners taking charge at home any more. Apart from Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj also took six wickets. In contrast, Akash Deep, who played only one Test, took three wickets, adding nine more to India’s pace tally.
Spinners would always be the crucial difference between the two teams, and the numbers proved it so. England was, however, hit by an injury to their spin leader, Jack Leach, after the first Test, but India was still the better side. Ravi Ashwin was the standout bowler for the hosts, taking an impressive 26 wickets.
Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja picked 19 each, while Axar Patel, who played in just two matches, picked up five wickets. While Ashwin and Kuldeep took wickets at a strike rate of 36, Jadeja did so at 46.
For England, Tom Hartley was the most impressive with 22 wickets, but his strike rate was 68. Shoaib Bashir picked 17 wickets in five innings, at a strike rate of 59, while Rehan Ahmed picked 11 in three matches at a strike rate of 64. In Leach’s absence, Root bowled 118 overs in nine innings, taking eight wickets at a strike rate 88.
Conclusion
Throughout the entire series, England lost all of their wickets, which equates to a staggering 100 wickets in total. In contrast, the Indian team only lost 79 wickets, indicating their superior performance.
Consequently, India finished ahead of England in the Test series. It claimed the top spot in the rankings, a testament to their consistency and skill. England must reform and start anew if they want to see any progress. Everything must be renewed from time to time, not just technological advancements. For instance, coaches and players should be replaced periodically to bring fresh perspectives and new ideas.
Bazball cricket is not a consistent sport and only thrives when players work perfectly with it. Therefore, England players should open a new chapter and embrace change to have a chance at success.
