The Eng vs Ind 2025 test series continues to throw one thrilling match after another. The Indian cricket team looked down and out after losing 2 wickets for no runs in their second innings while chasing a draw in the 4th test match at Manchester, Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
However, gutsy innings from captain Shubman Gill, opener KL Rahul, all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar secured the all-important draw for India on the 5th and final day. Despite the late heroics, Team India can take some valuable lessons from the 4th test match.
Converting good starts into bigger scores matters
The top three Indian batters, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Sai Sudharsan, had scores of 58, 46, and 61, respectively, in the 1st innings of the 4th Eng vs Ind test at Manchester. Even if two of them had carried on from the starts they got and converted it into a big score, who knows, India’s first innings score could have been well over 358.
When you bat first, you need to bat long and make the most of your starts. With England and Ben Stokes putting India into bat, hoping to take advantage of the overcast conditions at the start of the first day, a big first innings India’s score would have been a setback for England. It might have altered their mindset a bit, as a win for Ben Stoke‘s side would have turned out to be real hard work from there.
You can’t rely on a single bowler every time
India’s over-reliance on Jasprit Bumrah was visible again in the Eng vs Ind 4th test match at Old Trafford, Manchester. When Bumrah didn’t click in his first spell and went wicketless, it was a genuine indicator of the things to follow.
With Anshul Kamboj failing to provide that spark from the other end in his debut game, too much pressure then loomed on Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur to deliver wickets as the first and second change bowlers.
Bumrah didn’t quite look at his very reliable best, the front-line pacer also went off the ground after just bowling one over from the second new ball due to a possible discomfort in one of his feet. Again, the responsibility to provide a breakthrough and potential quick wickets shifted to other bowlers, and they struggled to do anything substantial as England kept moving towards an enormous score.
The lack of Plan B and its untimely execution
Having a Plan B is important, more so, its timely execution in a test match could prove to be quite crucial. Team India looked sort of any pre-thought strategy or alternative plans to get wickets during the Englishmen’s 1st innings of the 4th Eng vs Ind test match.
Once it was clear that the bowl wasn’t swinging much, nor was it doing much in the air and off the pitch, there lurked a room for the bowlers and the captain to try out possible different ways to get England’s wickets.
It took India more than 60 overs to even think about the short-ball stuff. It was when Mohammed Siraj bowled a full over of short balls to Ben Stokes, and that too only just before the end of a particular session.
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