Opinion: Where is India losing despite having such a batting prowess?
Indian Cricket team is under a radar of criticism and appraise as India defeated England to avoid a possible embarrassment at the hand of British. The result might have brought a certain amount of relief to Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri in particular, however, the fact that the mighty batting line-up of India is continuing to be a constant disappointment comes out as an early alarm. In 3 matches, the bowling department has done its job efficiently and its evident enough that Indian bowlers have been effective against the English in their home ground.
The shocking thing about India is out of 11decorated batsmen, just four Indian batsmen have gone past 50 runs.
India being ranked 1st in Test ranking became an instant favourite. In the first Test match, Indian batting order collapsed on 274 runs henceforth failing to start a lead with Virat Kohli contributing with a sumptuous 149 runs. In England's 2nd inning, the Indian bowlers again restricted the batsmen on 160. The Indian batting line-up once again failed to capitalize and lost the match by 31 runs.
At the end of the 5th day, the Indian captain said," Our shot selection could have been better. We definitely need to apply ourselves better with the bat, but England came back superbly and we need to take the positives and move forward.
In the 2nd Test match played at Lord's, the Indian batting line up once again succumbed to a very low score of just 107 runs. The day didn't go well for bowlers either as England hammered 396 runs on board. India in return managed to get 130 runs thus lost the match by an inning and 159 runs.
The 3rd Test match was a "win to survive". One defeat and India would have lost the series however with the victory at Trent Bridge India they still have a fighting chance.
With a new mindset, the openers gave a good start to India. A collective effort from the team and a blistering 97 from Kohli helped India to register the humongous score of 329 runs on board.
In the Ist inning of England, Indian bowling department once again played its role and reduced the English batsmen to 161 runs. India's second inning started with a solid start from the openers and another mindblowing century from Virat Kohli, 72 runs from Cheteshwar Pujara and a brilliant 52* runs from Hardik Pandya tolled the tally to 352 runs. In their quest for victory, English batsmen lost some crucial wickets and were all out on 317 runs leading India to win by a whopping 203 runs.
Victory in the third Test was a combined endeavour. Both batsmen and bowlers did a strong job to bring India back into the competition. The Indian bowling department has continued to develop itself and has proved a lifesaver when needed. The 4th Test will be a very crucial one for Indian batting lineup and keep the series hopes alive.