After a stellar performance on the Australian grounds, the Indian team has faced defeat in the first Test on the home ground.
Chasing 420 to win the Chennai Test against England, Virat Kohli's team was reduced to just 192 runs. Captain Virat Kohli was able to show a lot of struggle for the team but his 72-run innings also failed to take the game to the third session.
In such a situation, the question arises as to why the Indian team, which won the 2–1 Test series in Australia, collapsed while playing the first Test match from England on their land? There are many reasons for this.
Question on Indian team selection
When the Indian team landed in Chennai, the team was led by regular captain Virat Kohli in place of the erratic but successful captain Ajinkya Rahane who was returning to the team after the paternity leave.
Under his captaincy, India suffered a humiliating defeat in the first Test match played in Adelaide by just 36 runs in the second innings. Ajinkya Rahane then changed the result of the series based on relatively less experienced faces like youngsters Shubman Gill, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, and Navdeep Saini.
When the Indian team was announced in Chennai, everyone was surprised because Ishant Sharma took the place of fast bowler Mohammad Siraj, who took thirteen wickets in three matches in Australia. He went on to play his 98th match and was successful in completing 300 wickets in his Test career, but could not leave his mark as a bowler.
Apart from Ishant Sharma, the other bowlers included Jasprit Bumrah and three spinners R Ashwin, Washington Sundar, and Shahbaz Nadeem playing their second match. All cricket pundits were wondering why Mohammad Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav are not in the team.
If Siraj had bowled strongly in Australia, it can only be said that Khaldeep Yadav, the former spinner, also made his last match against Australia in 2019, taking five wickets in the last Test match of the series in Sydney. Were done
Kuldeep Yadav has been with the team since then but he did not get a chance to play Test matches. It may be that the result would have been the same with Mohammad Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav but at first glance, it does not look right. Shahbaz Nadeem spent 167 for two wickets and R Ashwin spent 146 runs for three wickets, ie two bowlers gave more than three hundred runs.
England tried out loud players
On the other hand, when England had announced their team for the Chennai Test, the highly experienced off-spinner Moin Ali was out of the team. Probably there were questions about his fitness after being a victim of Covid in the past, but his lack was not let down by England by Jack Leach and Dominic Bais.
In fast bowling, England replaced James Anderson and Joffre Archer in place of Stuart Broad. Anderson, who has won 606 wickets before the Chennai Test, showed why he is the king of the swing. In the first innings, Anderson and Joffra Archer shared two wickets, but in the second innings, Anderson taught the bowling lesson to the Indian batsmen.
In the second innings, he hunted Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rishabh Pant in the desired manner, especially Shubman Gill did not get a chance to handle and understand. Off-spinner Bais showed his power in the first innings by taking the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara, captain Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rishabh Pant.
Joe Root won the victory in Chennai
England captain Joe Root rang the danger bell before coming to India. He scored 426 runs against Sri Lanka with big innings like 228 and 186 runs. Keeping the same strong form, he scored a century in his third consecutive Test match scoring 218 runs in his first innings in his hundredth Test.
He is the only batsman in the world to score a century in 98-99 and hundredth Test matches of his Test career. He also played the first and fiftieth Test match of his Test career against India. He is also the first cricketer to score a double century in the hundredth Test match. Thanks to his double century, England managed to score a huge score like 578 runs in the first innings.
In response, India's first innings was reduced to 337 runs. Those who wanted root could have given India a follow-on but they knew that it would not be easy to play in the fourth innings on the broken wicket of Chennai. Though his decision was not considered bold but it was sensible in which the risk of England's defeat was less.
England liked being the boss of the toss
Chennai wicket breaks so much on the third day in Test cricket that players call it an arena wicket. In their last tour on the same Chennai wicket, in the year 2016, England lost to India by an innings and 75 runs. Root, the current captain who was also part of the same team, so Root knew the pain of defeat.
Winning the toss went in favor of England, but there for two and a half days, England batted brilliantly in the first innings and proved it to be icing on the cake. Root's double century is not only remarkable but his partnership of two hundred runs for the third wicket with Dominic Sibale also played an important role in the match.
While Sibley scored an excellent 87, Ben Stokes also contributed to the huge score by scoring 82 runs. If the England team that left their mark in batting and bowling, prevented India from 337 runs in the first innings, then the credit goes to their superb fielding. Own captain Joe Root, standing a little ahead of cover, caught Ajinkya Rahane's catch to his left and fell.
Failure of Indian batsmen
In response to England's first innings run of 578 runs, India's opening pair Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill could not play fiercely. Rohit Sharma could score only six and Shubman Gill scored 29 runs. After this, Ajinkya Rahane also returned only one run and captain Virat Kohli scored 11 runs.
Rishabh Pant scored 91, Cheteshwar Pujara scored 73 and Washington Sundar scored an unbeaten 85 to bring India to a respectable 337 runs. After trailing by 241 runs on the first innings basis, India had no other way but to lose or draw the match.
It was impossible to score 420 to win on a broken wicket like Chennai. Even in the second innings, Rohit Sharma failed, so the right cancer Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rishabh Pant proved Ayaram Gayaram.
Shubman Gill scored a half-century but that did not reduce India's difficulties. Captain Virat Kohli also handled one end but the best companions had already left him to support him at the other end. Ultimately, Virat Kohli also fell for Stokes after scoring 72 runs.
The second Test of the four-Test series between India and England will be played in Chennai from 13 February. Now the biggest question is whether India will be able to return to the series and win the victory by losing the first match, just like the tour of Australia.
However, before this, India had lost the Test series in 2012 at the hands of England for the last time on its land. Well, it is difficult to predict which series will be in favor, but the Indian players will certainly have to chew a lot to overcome this England team playing under the captaincy of Root.
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