England vs India 2018: Five reasons why India lost the first Test
England humbled the world number 1 Test side India by 31 runs in the first Test match at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham.
It was a completely entertaining match but the visitors surrendered on multiple occasions to hand England a 1-0 lead. After scoring 274 and handing England a 13-run first-innings lead, England were in a spot of bother at 93/7 in the second innings before a cameo from Sam Curran pushed them to 180 in the second essay.
Chasing 194 runs in the fourth innings to win the Test match was always going to be tough with the wickets assisting the pace bowlers and England having four good fast bowlers in their ranks. India managed to score just 152, handing the hosts a 31-run win.
Lethargic bowling to the tailenders in the second innings
After conceding a lead of just 13 runs in the first innings, Indian bowlers started well in the second innings as R Ashwin dismissed Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings and Joe Root in quick succession and put pressure on the England batsmen.
Ishant Sharma proved why he is India's most experienced bowler by taking four wickets including the ones of Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler in one over and reduced the hosts to 87/7 in the second innings.
It was then that Sam Curran and Adil Rashid started batting together. They batted brilliantly and took the game away from India. Thanks to Curran's 63, the last four batsmen alone contributed as many as 93 runs to put their team in a decent position. What looked like a target around 130 for India, became 194, thanks to some lethargic bowling from the Indian bowlers.
Though they beat the bat on a few occasions, a majority of the balls before Curran settled were either short or wide or both. It will be unfair to put the blame on the bowlers but they could have kept the pressure on England by bowling some tight lines.