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Shubman Gill’s Test captaincy debut ended in defeat as India lost to England by five wickets in the first match at Headingley.
IND vs ENG, 1st Test: Shubman Gill’s India lost to England by 5 wickets (AP)
Shubman Gill was a disappointed man as his Test captaincy debut ended in defeat. India lost to England by five wickets in the first Test of the five-match series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Headingley in Leeds on Tuesday.
Poor fielding and lack of support for the exceptional Jasprit Bumrah compounded India’s problems. Indian bowlers conceded 44 boundaries and three sixes in the second innings alone, along with 54 boundaries and five sixes in the first innings.
Shubman Gill said that it was a brilliant match and had they taken their chances, the result could have been different.
“I think it was a brilliant Test match. We had our chances, we dropped catches and our lower-order didn’t contribute enough, but proud of the team and overall a good effort,” Shubman Gill said at the post-match presentation.
“Yesterday we were thinking we were going to get around 430 and declare. Unfortunately, our last 6 wickets scored only around 20-25 runs which is never a good sign. Even today after their brilliant opening partnership, I felt we still had our chance but just didn’t go our way in this match,” he added.
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Shubman said the team had talked about the first innings collapse and wants to rectify that in the coming games.
“Yes, that was something that we spoke about but when you are out there in the middle it happens so quickly and I think it would be one of those things that we have to rectify in the upcoming matches Could be one of those things we have to rectify in the upcoming matches. Yes, definitely chances don’t come easy especially on wickets like these and we dropped quite a few catches but I think we’ve got a young team, still a learning one and hopefully in the next matches we’ll be able to improve on those aspects,” Shubman said.
Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped four catches.
Asked what they could have done differently, Shubman said: “I mean not really, I think the first session that we bowled we were quite spot on, I think we bowled pretty well. Didn’t give away that many runs but you know it’s very hard to stop them once the ball gets old and you have to keep picking wickets to be able to stay in the game. Unfortunately some edges didn’t find the fielders, 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 kind of took the game away from us.”
At one point, it seemed the experienced KL Rahul was captaining the side, highlighting Gambhir’s less-than-stellar coaching record in traditional formats.
In the final session, Ravindra Jadeja, who has a strong record against Ben Stokes, managed to dismiss the England skipper with a reverse-sweep attempt caught easily by Shubman Gill.
“He (Jadeja) bowled brilliantly, I think he did produce some chances for us, a few pop-ups that Rishabh (Pant) didn’t take. But that happens in any game of cricket, you kind of expect there would be some chances that wouldn’t go your way,” Shubman said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes on cricket content, ha…Read More
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes on cricket content, ha… Read More
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