new delhi, june 25
Having conceded a five-wicket victory after being in a dominant stage in the first Test against England at Headingley, India Test skipper Shubman Gill reflected on his team’s failure to seize the opportunities, including a few fielding lapses that eventually cost them dear.
England rode a match-winning century from Ben Duckett and more importantly, his 188-run opening partnership with Zak Crawley that set the tone of the chase of a mammoth 371 before Joe Root’s experience guided them over the line.
“A brilliant Test match. We had chances in the match, a few dropped catches, and the lower order didn’t contribute as it would have been,” said Gill. Gill also analysed India’s second innings batting, that collapsed from a comfortable 333/4 to 364 all out, while revealing that India were initially planning a declaration. “We were thinking to give them around 400-430 to chase and declare, but our lower order added around 20-25 runs, which is never a good sign.”
Gill also spoke about India’s fielding lapses, while admitting that the dropped chances hurt their cause. He, however, backed his young side to learn from those mistakes going forward in the series.
“Chances don’t come easy on wickets like these, and we dropped quite a few catches. I thought after their brilliant opening partnership, we did have our chances but just didn’t go our way,” he said.
“The first session we bowled, we were quite spot on. But it’s quite hard to stop the runs once the ball gets old, and you have to keep picking wickets to stay in the game. Unfortunately, some catches didn’t find the fielders and didn’t go our way, but I think they batted really well. After the ball got old, they took their chances, and their opening partnership took the game away from us.”
“But we have got a young team which is still learning. Hopefully, in the next matches, we’ll be able to improve on those aspects,” he added.
It was unbelievable: Stokes
England captain Ben Stokes was thrilled with the performance by his side during the opening Test, with the skipper paying special tribute to his opening pair of Zak Crawley and Duckett for their 188-run partnership on the final day that helped set up the win.
“It was unbelievable. Unless you’re involved in it, (it’s hard to understand) the pressure of the fourth innings, going out there.
Opening the batting is hard enough, especially in England. So that partnership that Zak and Ben got us off to was just incredible,” Stokes said. “Those two complement each other so well. Obviously, Ducky got the big score that contributed towards us winning this game. But I thought the way that Zak was able to stay composed, and stay in the moment, and sense that Ducky was getting off to the flyer (was crucial),” he added.
The second Test between England and India commences in Birmingham on July 2.
