Why India lost the third Test and the No. 1 status
Zeecric BureauAfter a stint of 21 months on the top of the Test rankings, India are dethroned by a better English side after inflicting a huge defeat of by an innings and 242 runs over the visitors.
Indications are that, India would lose the series 4-0, which means they will further go down to third in the rankings table.
Dhoni and Co. is facing the heat from the lovers of the game for the humiliating series loss in England. Lot has been said and discussed about the possible cause for the failure. Zeecric.combrings you some of the reasons for India’s failure in the third Test:
Missed opportunity
When sent into bat after losing the toss, India failed to seize the opportunity on the first day and was bundled out for 224 on a comparatively slow pitch. But then England went on to make 710 for the loss of 7wickets before declaring. Evidently, as Tim Bresnan had put it, there were no demons in the Edgbaston pitch, yet the Indian batters just could not hang around enough.
Cook factor
Alastair Cook spent 772 minutes on the crease and put together a mammoth 294 to his credit. He scored the most part of England’s innings and played a crucial role in India’s humiliating loss. More importantly it was the manner in which he scored the runs. He gave himself time to settle in, he was not impatient when he was bogged down.
He allowed the ball to come to him rather than going for the ball as the Indian had done. He restrained from poking his bat away from his body and relied on his concentration and focus to do the job. He must have single handedly spent more time in the middle batting than the entire Indian team.
De-spirited show and poor fielding
For the most part of the match, we saw a dispirited Indians on the field, which even drew comments from the England all-rounder Tim Bresnan. It was the drooping shoulders, hands in the pockets and the perplexed looks that were on display from the Indian fielders.
Bresnan even asked the Indians to show some interest in the game and ‘take off their hands from their pockets’. India’s Rahul Dravid dropped two catches, while master blaster managed to drop one.
No variety in bowling
Bowling was not definitely India’s strong point but no one expected it be as worse as was on display. The bowling attack, sans Zaheer Khan, was directionless to say the least. Ishant Sharma failed to display the talent and potential he had shown in West Indies.
Praveen kumar did a commendable job but lacked the pace to compliment his banana swing, which James Anderson did with perfection. The spin department of India was virtually non-existent as it would be safe to say that Suresh Raina has so far emerged as the best Indian spinner.
RP Singh was flown in hurriedly and with the kind of form or the lack of it Sreesanth was enjoying, RP should have been the part of the squad for the third Test. He could have been the perfect replacement for Zak for the simple fact that he is a left arm pacer. With the English line-up full of lefties, RP could have made a better impact than Sreesanth.
James Anderson (left) has taken 18 wickets in the series