India dominated the visitors and had total control over the Test for the first two days. However, Ollie Pope entered the crease on Day 3 and used his reverse sweeps to completely alter the tone of the match.
Rahul Dravid, the head coach of India, said that his team’s inability to capitalize on strong starts and leave runs on the field in the first innings cost them a 28-run loss to England in the first Test. Following England’s defeat at 246 by the Indian spinners, Yashasvi Jaiswal (80), KL Rahul (86), and Ravindra Jadeja (87) led India to an incredible 436.
Despite appearing ready for a big time on the field, all three hitters ultimately failed. In the press conference following the game, Dravid emphasized this point by saying, “I felt we left probably 70 runs on the board in the first innings.” You know, I believe that during our early innings on day two, when the weather was quite conducive to batting, we had some nice starts but failed to fully capitalize on them.”
“You know, we didn’t get a hundred, we didn’t have someone obtain a hundred for us. Thus, I thought that in some respects, we in India simply left those seventy or eighty runs behind in the hut during the first innings. There’s always going to be difficulty in the second innings. It’s just one of those things that is difficult. Dravid continued, “It’s not simple to chase 230 or it’s not done very often.
Dravid continued by saying that many of the players in the current Test lineup are young and are still getting used to playing lengthy innings.
Many of the players are quite young, as they play a lot of white-ball cricket and may not have as much opportunity to play first-class cricket as they would want. They are therefore learning, and I believe they are making progress. To be honest, during the past few years, there have also been difficult wickets. Additionally, several of our younger batsmen have found it difficult to adjust. However, they have not arrived here by accident; rather, they have earned their place by excelling in A-team cricket and amassing a large number of runs in domestic cricket.
Thus, as you can see, their selection is based on merit “Dravid stated.
“People do occasionally need some time to acclimate. Their efforts are definitely exerted. I will say that, you know, a lot of thought goes into batting for them, and for them, it’s just a matter of trying to keep getting better at things and honing abilities that might help them deal with these kinds of situations a little bit better,” Dravid continued.
India had dominated the visitors and had total control of the Test for the previous three days. However, Ollie Pope entered the crease on Day 3 and used his reverse sweeps to completely alter the tone of the match.
With a knock of 196, he not only dismissed India’s advantage of 190 runs, but also gave England a target that they could defend on a difficult wicket.
“Against that caliber of bowling, I have never witnessed a finer display of sweeping and reverse sweeping [than Ollie Pope] in these circumstances.
That being said, it’s critical that we react, devise some plans and strategies, and investigate any potential ways to force him to attempt those shots from likely even longer distances while maintaining even greater discipline and attention to detail in our play, Dravid stated.
“Because, in my opinion, our execution went a little off. Not in a significant way. He deserves credit, but we were a touch off. If we play well in the next Test match, I hope he makes a mistake,” Dravid continued.The second Test between India and England will take place at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Andhra Pradesh on February 2.
