India show England who’s the boss with humongous victory in Rajkot Test

Right up until the second day of the third Test at Rajkot’s Niranjan Shah Stadium, the ongoing Test series between India and England was turning out to be quite the evenly-contested affair. England had fought back from a near hopeless position in Hyderabad to collect a 28-run win. India would then bounce back in style in Visakhapatnam with both bat and ball to collect a 106-run victory and level the series with three matches to play.

Even in the third Test, England opener Ben Duckett smashed a whirlwind 88-ball century to help England race to 207/2 at stumps in just 35 overs after India posted a massive 445 on the board. The home team themselves had been reduced to 33/3 after opting to bat before centuries from skipper Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja brought them back on track.

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The Ben Stokes-led side, after all, had defeated Pakistan in Rawalpindi in December 2022 even after the home side had posted 579 on the board in their first innings. To pull off something similar against the Indian team in Rajkot was something that would’ve been more difficult, but not entirely impossible.

The third and the fourth days of the Test, however, would serve as yet another reminder to the cricketing world as to why beating India in India, especially in red-ball cricket, is such a Herculean task. Even if it happens to be an English team that has transformed into an all-conquering side since with their ‘Bazball’ tactics.

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England collapsed like a house of cards on Day 3 to get bowled out for 319, losing eight wickets for 112 runs and their last five for just 29. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill would then stamp their authority on the visiting bowlers with a massive partnership that was worth 154 before the former retired hurt due to back trouble. The home team had ended the day on 196/2, stretching their lead to 322, and an Indian victory had appeared imminent at that point.

Few however, would’ve expected India to walk away with a 434-run win — their biggest ever in the history of the game in terms of runs — the very next day. India ended up batting their opponents out of the game by posting a humongous 430/4 in their second innings, Jaiswal not only returning to action the following day but joining an elite list by bringing up a second consecutive double-century, with Sarfaraz Khan collecting a second half-century on Test debut.

England would then suffer an even more embarrassing collapse to get bundled out for 122 — only going past the century mark thanks to a bit of ‘Bazballing’ from Mark Wood, who top-scored for the side with an entertaining 33 off 15 deliveries before becoming the final English batter to fall.

Even if the target was well beyond their reach, England could have aimed to go out fighting before shifting their focus to the next Test in Ranchi. To lose wickets in a cluster after tea and get reduced to 50/7 before scraping past the hundred-mark thanks to lower-order contributions raises some serious questions on the part of the visitors, and skipper Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum will have to have a stern talk with the rest of the squad with two Tests left to play.

If anything, the events of the third and fourth days at Rajkot do drive home one central point — that of playing to one’s strengths as well as according to a situation. That a Test is played across five days where a team can still make a comeback later in the game even if they get outplayed in the first half, as was the case in Hyderabad as well as in the Birmingham Test in the summer of 2022.

Sure, Bazball has been a roaring success and certainly has transformed the English team into a world-beating side where they can outplay opponents at home as well as in subcontinental nations such as Pakistan. But expecting to bulldoze one’s way out of trouble every single time, especially when the chips are down and the situation calls for caution, can be greatly detrimental to the team’s interest.

England’s new-found obsession of attacking their way victories toes a fine line between bravery and stupidity. And it doesn’t quite come off, the results can often be humiliating, as they found out in Rajkot in less than 48 hours’ time.

Playing according to the situation is what Jaiswal and Shubman Gill had nailed during India’s second innings after their bowlers had produced a terrific comeback and took eight wickets for just 95 runs to bowl England out for 319 and give the home team a 126-run first innings lead. Skipper Rohit had departed early after getting off to a promising start, with India losing their first wicket with 30 on the board. Another wicket or two at that stage could’ve made things real interesting for the visitors, who could’ve then fancied their chances of restricting the target to 300 or less.

Jaiswal and Gill, who added 154 for the second wicket before the former ended up retiring hurt due to back issues, were cautious early on in their partnership. Jaiswal would go on to smash a record 12 sixes during his unbeaten knock of 214 but had taken 88 deliveries to reach his half-century. By the time he had reached the milestone, but ball was fairly old and not doing much and the English spinners weren’t appearing as threatening. The southpaw would then hit the gas pedal and collect the next 50 runs in just 42 deliveries to signal a shift in momentum.

Even on the following day, Jaiswal didn’t take the aggressive route right away after making his way to the centre following Gill’s dismissal, the Indian No 3 getting denied a second century in as many Tests after getting run out on 91. And by the time he was joined by Sarfaraz following Kuldeep’s dismissal, India already had more than 250 on the board with enough wickets in hand and their lead nearly worth 400.

What also helped India’s cause was the handy knock that Kuldeep had played, smashing three fours and a six in his 91-ball 27 and adding 55 for the third wicket with Gill that gave Jaiswal and Sarfaraz all the cushion that they needed to take the attack to the opposition bowlers. The two ended up making a mincemeat of the English attack with their unbroken partnership that was ultimately worth 172 in just 158 deliveries, containing 10 sixes and as many fours.

By the time Rohit had called the two batters back to the dressing room, India’s lead had swelled to 556, and with a little over four sessions left in the Test, England would have to bat out of their skins if they were to enforce a draw, with the prospect of a victory well beyond their reach by now.

In a quote during the Vizag Test that has since gone viral, veteran pacer James Anderson revealed coach McCullum’s pep talk that they would go for a victory even if they were set a target of 600. But when the time came for them to literally prove their coach right, things fell apart rather spectacularly.

Duckett, who led England’s charge in the first innings and needed to produce something similar in the chase, was the first to depart after a mix-up with Crawley as well as some brilliant glove work by keeper Dhruv Jurel resulted in his run out. The same Rajkot wicket where the trio of Jaiswal, Gill and Sarfaraz had feasted on the bowlers over the last two days would end up becoming virtually unplayable from the visiting team’s perspective. Four of the English top six fell victim to the leg-before-wicket dismissal, three of them to spinners.

After getting smashed for 33 runs in just four overs in the final session of the second day, Jadeja would lead the way with his 13th Test five-for, making Jonny Bairstow look clueless for a second time in as many days and dismissing Joe Root for the seventh time in Tests. Both Bairstow and Root, as well as skipper Stokes, fell victim to leg-before while attempting to sweep — the shot that has been at the heart of their attacking approach but proved to be their undoing on the day.

Jadeja, would walk away with the Player of the Match award for scoring a century and collecting a five-for in the same match. But it was very much a collective performance from the Indian bowlers, with Kuldeep also doing his part in building pressure from one end and getting the timely strikes. And let’s not forget Mohammed Siraj collecting wickets in the first innings, two of which came with the help of pin-point yorkers.

“When you play Test cricket, you don’t play it in two or three days. You have to stay in the game for five days. They played good shots and put us under pressure but we’ve got class in our squad when it comes to bowling. So obviously the message was to stay calm. Important that time to stay calm, otherwise you drift. We stuck to our plans on day three, and when those things happen, it’s a delight,” India skipper Rohit said during the post-match presentation.

There’s a short turnaround of just five days before the two teams meet again, this time at Ranchi’s JSCA Stadium where the momentum will no doubt be in Team India’s favour. It’s not entirely impossible for the English team to fight their way back from here and level the series in Ranchi and setup a mouth-watering decider in Dharamsala. The psychological impact that this defeat will have on the English dressing room, however, makes that highly unlikely a prospect.