
India’s resolve once again tested as mistakes litter Day 1 display in what has simply been “that kind of a series”.
Series of unfortunate events tests India’s resolve as wasteful wickets and reckless misadventures rule the roost.
It’s “that kind of a series” when you start figuring out a team’s batting average in the final 10 minutes before a planned break (12 for 165 at one point at Old Trafford, if it matters). And for India, it has been one of those. They arrived at The Oval having lost every toss, losing their finest batsman of the previous five years to a reverse-sweep against a fast bowler, and their luck having been more influenced by run-outs, casual shots, and missed catches than by their capacity to bat or bowl well for extended periods of time.
India arrived at The Oval, chose a specialist hitter over a bowling all-rounder, and for once did not hedge their chances. Whether they ought to have substituted a specialist bowler or not is up for argument, but at least their thinking was clear. On a green pitch that would probably be kept fresh by rain on the first day of the series, which is predicted to be followed by two clear days, they then lost what may have been the most significant toss of the series.
India has previously visited this place. They chased leather for 116.3 overs after being bowled out on the first day of play at The Oval in 2014. They lost the toss at Lord’s in 2018, and the sweaty, wet pitch and multiple mini sessions there were enough to defeat them by one or two wickets every time. Similar to Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill was run out in slow motion during the middle session between two rain breaks. This was the closest parallel.
It seemed like India was in the last moments of another Test match. In his mind, it seemed as though Gill raced to the shot he wanted to play. Push the ball with a slightly open face and spin the strike; there was no cover. Although the ball was sufficiently full to do so, Gill simply took off because the inswing on it caused an automatic reflex to play with a straighter face. Even if he hadn’t tripped on turning, he would have been out.
Despite all the records, the player who has probably displayed the best judgement throughout the series—whose bat has produced a noticeably different, sweeter sound throughout the game—made the mistake that could cost him the series.
At that time, India was 83 for 3. They had to deal with a bowler who kept spraying the ball and occasionally bowling deliveries that were almost unplayable in order to make it more of that type of series.
Despite Dhruv Jurel’s attempt to cut a ball too close to him, India’s batting depth performed admirably from 123 for 5. Washington Sundar, who is coming off a game-saving century and is predicted to be India’s top all-round player when Ravindra Jadeja departs, and Karun Nair were there even when they were six down. India had the right batters playing the right way to take advantage of the now-softer ball, even though the score was 153 for 6.
They added 51 mostly fuss-free runs in 14.3 overs by stumps. Nair did not go into his shell or launch a counterattack while scoring his first half-century since the triple-hundred nine years ago. He simply kept nice balls out and took advantage of every scoring opportunity that was presented to him. In that collaboration, Washington did a lot of the same.
India seemed to have absorbed every bit of the fury that the cricketing gods could throw at them. With a little assistance from England’s loose bowling, who lacked experience without Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes. A decent score for the conditions is frequently not a good score for the match in Test cricket, particularly in England.
Although they still need to employ the 16 overs with the old ball on the second morning, India’s effort was cautiously encouraging. However, they wouldn’t want those 16 overs to be completely simple since that would indicate a significant shift in the conditions for when England bats.
Ten Doeschate stated that India hoped to reach around 300, but that 203 for 6 was a good representation of the situation. He omitted to mention that they don’t want to use any exquisite batting to easily reach 300. Their goal is to reach 300 by streaking and huffing and puffing. That’s the type of series it has been. This is another test of India’s resolve in a series that has been full of them.