England vs India 2018, 1st Test: 5 Reasons Why India Lost Edgbaston Test

Team India lost the 1st Test to England by a narrow margin of 31 runs at Edgbaston on Saturday. The Indian batters barring a certain Virat Kohli couldn’t cope with the bowling friendly conditions and kept giving away wickets in a cheap fashion.

India needed to make 84 to make with five wickets in hand on day four. With Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik, they would have believed to chase the target down.

However, Ben Stokes produced a sensational spell of fast bowling which eventually handed the hosts a thrilling victory.

Now, let’s look at the five reasons why India lost the opening Test to  England at Edgbaston.

Horrendous batting by Shikhar Dhawan

All the batters expect Virat Kohli performed quite poorly. However, I am more gutted with the southpaw mainly due to the pattern of his dismissals.

Shikhar Dhawan has been troubled quite consistently outside the off-stump in the swinging conditions. Dhawan keeps on going for the expansive drives and keeps on perishing behind the wicket.

Getting runs in the subcontinent and then getting picked for overseas tours on the basis of current form cannot be the case all the time. As for now, I feel, Shikhar Dhawan should himself stop playing Test cricket and go back to the domestic format to change his style of batting. He has to challenge himself by leaving deliveries outside the off stump.

Virat Kohli should have been more sensible as a skipper for India 

Captain Virat Kohli was quite superb with the bat. He smashed 149 and 51 in both the innings and almost won India match single handedly for India.

However, there were times when his captaincy was under the scrutiny. He tends to make too many changes in a short time.

Hence it does affects the confidence of a certain bowler. He should be less proactive in Test cricket and wait for things to come his way. As Sourav Ganguly mentioned, Virat Kohli’s greatness won’t just get measured by his performances, but how his team does in challenging overseas conditions.

The indifferent Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane

The duo of Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane had not looked a shadow of their actual prowess in the last few months or even a year in that case. Both have been pretty ordinary in how much they scored in the past few months, especially in the challenging conditions.

What a pity it was to see two champion batsman struggle on conditions where they have proved themselves before.

As a matter of fact, both Rahane and Vijay have centuries to their name in England as well. Hence India would need them to step up to the plate if they harbour hope of making a comeback in the series.

The absence of Kuldeep Yadav

The left-arm chinaman bowler was a must according to me before the start of the Test. The wicket was expected to assist the spinners given the conditions in England were not that cold.

However, the team management of India decided to play a lone spinner in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin. Two spinners bowling in tandem could have proved to be a different ball game altogether.

Kuldeep bagged 14 wickets in the limited-overs series, and I sincerely thought he could have been an excellent option for the opening Test. He will get a chance as the series progresses. However, I feel he should be drafted straight into the XI. He is the X-factor for the visiting team.

Lack of consistency from Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav had been the best fast bowler for India during the long home season. However, when it comes to away conditions, Umesh has not pitched the ball enough in the initial few overs.

He must continue to hit the same areas consistently. It hasn’t been the case with him on many overseas tours. He is one of the senior bowlers now, and hence a lot more can be expected from him.

He was wayward at times during the opening Test and ended up bowling not an ideal line on several occasions. If he does get a game in the 2^nd Test, Umesh needs to change his game plan and bowl a bit more consistently.