IND vs ENG: "Whenever It's Your Day, You Need To Make Those Starts Count" - Aakash Chopra On Virat Kohli And Cheteshwar Pujara's Failures In 5th IND vs ENG Test

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra thinks India’s top and middle order’s inability to score runs was a major factor in their defeat to England at Edgbaston. 

Even though they were reduced to 98/5, the visitors still managed to collect 416 runs in the first innings, partly thanks to the centuries of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. India was in an excellent position to record a goal in excess of 450 runs even in the second innings because they had a 132-run advantage. 

However, they only managed to set up a target of 378 runs for England before losing their final six wickets for just 55 runs. On the last day, the hosts easily chased it down to win by a seven-wicket margin. 

India Will Be In Trouble If Virat Kohli Does Not Score Big: Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra discussed the failure of veteran batters Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara to turn their starts into huge scores in a video posted to his YouTube channel. He said: 

“If Virat Kohli does score big runs and big hundreds, Team India will be in trouble. Cheteshwar Pujara has made some important contributions but hasn’t made a century.” 

Chopra added: 

“Whenever it’s your day, you need to make those starts count and convert them into big scores. There haven’t been enough runs scored by India in this series or even in the previous one against South Africa.” 

Indian Batters Should Have Batted Longer: Aakash Chopra

Additionally, Aakash Chopra clarified how the Edgbaston Test was simply a continuation of India’s batsmen’s inability to score enough runs. Apart from their opening partnerships in England last summer, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, in his opinion, India has struggled to consistently score high totals.

Chopra believes that the visitors should have continued to bat at Edgbaston to push the total further away from England. If they had done it, they might have been able to utilise the second new ball and start a batting collapse.  Aakash Chopra stated: 

“The batters haven’t scored enough runs in the past two and half years. Of course, Rohit and Rahul did score runs in England last year, but the runs have been very sporadic.” 

He added: 

“You could have batted 1-2 more sessions and given a target of 475-500 and it might not have been chased down. If it becomes 109/3 from 107/0, one wicket here and with the second new ball due, things change. The sad reality is India have not scored enough runs in past several series.” 

This summer, England has won four straight Test matches, mainly because of their strong batting. Their most recent triumph came at Edgbaston. India, on the other hand, had much more questions than it had answers regarding their batting and bowling units. 

Also Read: IND vs ENG: “Wanted Them To Get 450”: Ben Stokes’ Bold Statement After Edgbaston Win