India vs England 2021: Sunil Gavaskar Reckons Body Language Of England Batsmen Was Disappointing

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has reckoned that the body language of England batsmen was very disappointing despite the criticism on the Motera pitch quality. England batsmen could not handle the Indian spin on the Motera pitch in the day-night Test and lost their hopes of making it to the finals of the world championship finals.

A lot of cricket experts weren’t happy with the way the pitch played as the match finished in just two days. The rarity of the pitch was the deliveries skidding on and most of the batsman played for the spin. The Indian spinners were clever enough and bowled in the right areas continuously making it tough for the England batsmen. India now has taken a 2-1 lead in the series and has to make sure that they don’t lose the match to qualify for the finals of the world test championship.

“It Was About The Mindset Which Did Them In” –  Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar mentioned that it was not the pitch that had demons on it and it was the mindset of the batsmen that decided the outcome of their dismissal. He added that the batsmen had to apply some more intent and the pitch wasn’t tremendously challenging. He referred to Rohit Sharma’s innings which looked very comfortable and proved that batsman could score runs in this pitch.

“It was not a pitch where the ball was misbehaving constantly. Nothing was kicking up alarmingly. Neither was there any great invariable bounce that the ball would shoot. Here, the bounce was actually true, almost. Yes, there was spin but Test match batsmen should be able to handle the turn or the straighter ones.

Challenging, but not treacherously challenging. If you look at the dismissals, the batsmen have contributed to their own downfall. More than the pitch, it was about the mindset which did them in. Rohit Sharma’s batting in both innings showed you could score runs on this pitch,” said  Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar Explains the Reason Behind The Downfall

Sunil Gavaskar mentioned that the extra lacquer on the pink ball was an oversimplification of the batsmen reading the wrong line. He added that the bat speed and the grip are crucial factors to play on a turning pitch and felt that the batsmen from both teams did not make considerable adjustments. He also told about the body language of the England batsmen looked very disappointing.

“When the ball is turning occasionally, you play the line of the ball. Importantly, it’s your bat-speed that is going to be the determining factor. Also, the grip on the bat is going to be a determining factor. How you stand at the crease before the ball has left the bowler’s hand is a factor. All these little things make a difference. We didn’t see many batsmen from both teams make the adjustments,” he further explained.

“The disappointing thing was the body language of the England batsmen. A couple of Indians were in total contrast to that. When Rohit Sharma comes out to bat, it’s as if he is taking his wife and daughter to the beach. Nice and relaxed. Similarly, Virat Kohli comes out like a top cop trying to arrest someone who has done some mischief,” said Sunil Gavaskar.

England will be hoping to put a better performance in the final Test at Ahmedabad and a win for them could propel Australia to the World Test Championship finals.