India's Collapse: Coach Gambhir Defends Lower Order Amid Test Defeat

Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, has come to the defense of India's lower-order batsmen following their disappointing performance in the recent Test match against England at Headingley. Despite scoring a mammoth 835 runs and boasting five individual centurions, including Rishabh Pant with a century in each innings, India succumbed to a 371-run chase by England.

The defeat, India's seventh in their last nine Tests, was particularly frustrating due to two significant batting collapses.

India's Batting Woes:

• First Innings: Lost 7 wickets for 41 runs.
• Second Innings: Lost 6 wickets for 31 runs.

These collapses proved critical, turning potentially dominant positions into a chaseable target for the English side.

Missed catches hurt India in the crucial Test match. © Getty

Shubman Gill, who marked his captaincy debut with a brilliant century in the first innings, revealed that the team was aiming for a target of around 435. However, Gambhir believes the game's momentum shifted much earlier. He stated, "If we could've got to 570, 580 in the first innings, we could've dominated from there."

Despite the lower order's struggles, Gambhir refrained from attributing the loss to their lack of application. Shardul Thakur, selected for his all-round abilities, was dismissed playing expansive shots in both innings, while Prasidh Krishna fell attempting a slog sweep.

"Look, first of all, it's not that they weren't applying themselves. Sometimes people fail. And that's okay," Gambhir explained. "I know it's disappointing. And more importantly, I think they were more disappointed than anyone, because they knew we had the opportunity... Even proper batters fail. Hopefully, they'll learn, and hopefully, we'll get better performances from our tail. And that is not the only reason we lost the Test match."

Another significant factor in India's defeat was their poor catching performance. The team dropped seven catches throughout the match, with Yashasvi Jaiswal being a repeat offender. Ben Duckett, who was dropped on 97 by Jaiswal, went on to score a crucial 149. Gill acknowledged the need for improved standards in this area.

"Yes, that was something that we spoke about," Gill said. "But when you are out there in the middle, it happens so quickly... Chances don't come easy, especially on wickets like these, and we dropped quite a few catches... hopefully, in the next matches, we'll be able to improve on those aspects."

However, Gambhir dismissed the notion of using the team's youth as an excuse for the loss. He asserted, "Every defeat is bad. It's not about a young team or an experienced team. It's an Indian team... A young team is not an excuse... We will turn up every Test match thinking that we can win the Test match and win the series."

The head coach also confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah would only play two more Test matches in the series, as part of a pre-determined plan to manage his workload. The specific matches are yet to be decided. Despite Bumrah's limited availability, Gambhir expressed confidence in the team's bowling attack. "We absolutely have the bowling attack [to compete]. We believe in them. We trust in them... they will keep getting better... We believe and we trust that these boys will deliver for us."