England vs India: Gautam Gambhir Feels India Should Have Chased Down 245 in Southampton

Gautam Gambhir stated that it was a very frustrating loss for Team India as they went down to England by 60 runs in the fourth Test at Ageas Bowlin Southampton.

The senior campaigner added that the batters should have chased the target of 245 down at Ageas Bowl. Gambhir felt that off-spinner Moeen Ali was the only potential threat and from the pacers point of view, the pitch didn’t do much.

Hence the southpaw felt 245 was chasable. He also criticised some of the batters for the shots they played. Gambhir lambasted wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant for taking an attacking approach. He felt that better methods could have been employed and India should have chased the total down.

“Obviously a very frustrating loss for India. You expected Indian batters to chase 240 on this wicket. Moeen Ali was a threat, but the way Virat Kohli and Rahane was going India was very much in the game. Some of the shots which were played weren’t up to the mark. Especially someone like Rishabh Pant because you don’t expect someone to play like that when you are chasing 90 runs. Obviously, you can be brave, but there were better options which could have been taken,” Gambhir told Times of India.

“I thought India should have got the total on this wicket. Moeen Ali was the only threat in the wicket. Obviously, they had three fast bowlers and Sam Curran. But I still thought the wicket wasn’t that bad as it looked. It played really well especially from the fast bowler’s point of view. Look all credit to England. They outplayed India completely in the Test match,” he stated.

England vs India: Gautam Gambhir feels it was a massive defeat for the visitors

Whatever people can say but I think 60-run defeat is an enormous defeat especially when you are chasing 245.

“So all credit to England. Let’s see how India bounces back from this defeat ar Oval. Because there is still a Test match to be played and 3-2 is always a better scoreline than 4-1. So I think India will be up for it. But England were the deserving winners here,” Gambhir further added.

The visiting team faltered yet again in the 4^th innings. They lost KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara pretty quickly. Shikhar Dhawan after scoring three boundaries was also dismissed cheaply by James Anderson.

With a score of 22 for three, the visitors were in serious trouble. From there on, it was a tremendous fourth-wicket partnership of 101 runs between Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane which helped India claw their way back into the game.

However, the wicket of Kohli was enough to start another collapse for the Indian lower middle order.

India never managed to recover from the wicket as the English bowlers stamped their authority in the final session of Day Four. Ali bowled in the rough patches to perfection and ended up bagging four wickets.

It was a great effort by the English players to complete a series win. The hosts have now taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match Test series against India. However, Gautam Gambhir expected more from visitors in Southampton.