Gambhir Defends India's Tailenders After Test Collapse, Cites Poor Catches as Key Factor

Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, has offered his support for the Indian lower order batsmen despite their recent collapses in the first Test against England at Headingley. India suffered a painful defeat after surrendering a strong position, losing by 371 runs.

India's batting performance was a mixed bag. The team managed to score 835 runs, featuring five centuries, including Rishabh Pant's impressive feat of scoring a century in both innings. However, two significant batting collapses proved to be their undoing.

India's missed catches proved costly. © Getty

In the first innings, India lost 7 wickets for just 41 runs, squandering an opportunity to build a truly imposing score after winning the toss. This collapse allowed England to claw their way back into the match. A second collapse in the second innings, where they lost 6 for 31, left India with a defendable but chaseable target of 371, which England ultimately achieved with relative ease.

Shubman Gill, who marked his captaincy debut with a century in the first innings, mentioned that the team was aiming for a target of around 435. Gambhir, however, believed the turning point occurred earlier. "If we could've got to 570, 580 in the first innings, we could've dominated from there," he stated.

Despite the criticism directed towards the lower order, Gambhir defended their efforts. Shardul Thakur, selected for his all-round capabilities, was dismissed playing aggressive shots in both innings. Prasidh Krishna was also out attempting a risky shot while batting with Ravindra Jadeja.

"Look, first of all, it's not that they weren't applying themselves. Sometimes people fail. And that's okay," Gambhir explained. "I know it's disappointing. And more importantly, I think they were more disappointed than anyone, because they knew we had the opportunity. It's not like they're not working hard in the nets. These things happen. Even proper batters fail. Hopefully they'll learn, and hopefully we'll get better performances from our tail. And that is not the only reason we lost the Test match."

Another critical factor in India's defeat was their poor catching. They dropped seven catches throughout the match, with Yashasvi Jaiswal being the main culprit. Ben Duckett, who was dropped on 97, went on to score a crucial 149.

Gill acknowledged the dropped catches and stressed the need for improvement. "Yes, that was something that we spoke about," Gill stated. "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. Chances don't come easy, especially on wickets like these, and we dropped quite a few catches. But I think we have got a young team, still a learning one, and hopefully, in the next matches, we'll be able to improve on those aspects."

However, Gambhir dismissed the "young team" argument as an excuse for the loss. "Every defeat is bad. It's not about a young team or an experienced team. It's an Indian team. We take pride in winning each and every game for our country. A young team is not an excuse. We represent 140 crore proud Indians. We will try and give our absolute best. There are no excuses. We will turn up every Test match thinking that we can win the test match and win the series."

In other news, Gambhir confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah will only play two more Test matches in the series, adhering to a pre-series plan to manage his workload. The decision on which two Tests Bumrah will participate in is yet to be finalized. Despite Bumrah's limited availability, Gambhir expressed confidence in the remaining bowling attack. "Even without Bumrah, we absolutely have the bowling attack to compete. We believe in them. We trust in them."