Gautam Gambhir backs lower order after Headingley loss against England

Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir has put his weight behind the team’s lower order after suffering a five-wicket loss against England at Leeds, Headingley on Tuesday. India suffered two batting collapses in both innings, which led to their downfall.

In the first innings, India lost their last seven wickets for only 41 runs. The tourists were going strongly at 430-3 but they veered off the track and were bundled out for 471. It was a similar story in the second innings as India lost their last six wickets for 31 runs. Ergo, overall India lost 13-72 and gave away the advantage to England.

India could have posted more than 550 runs on the board in the first innings but it was not to be the case. Similarly, India could have set an even bigger target but failed to capitalise on the advantage. The visitors failed to shut the door down on England and thus the home team was able to bounce back on the final day.

“Look, first of all, it’s not that they weren’t applying themselves. Sometimes people fail. And that’s okay,” Gambhir said in the press conference. “I know it’s disappointing. And more importantly, I think they were more disappointed than anyone, because they knew we had the opportunity. It’s not like they’re not working hard in the nets. These things happen. 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.”

On the other hand, Indian captain Shubman Gill admitted they have a young team and they would learn with experience. However, Gambhir had other thoughts after the loss.

He added, “Every defeat is bad. It’s not about a young team or an experienced team. It’s an Indian team. We take pride in winning each and every game for our country. A young team is not an excuse. We represent 140 crore proud Indians. We will try and give our absolute best. There are no excuses. We will turn up every Test match thinking that we can win the test match and win the series.”

Along with batting collapses, Indian fielders failed to grab their chances, which added to the team’s woes.

The second Test match between India and England will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 2nd onwards.