“I don't think there will be many teams who will be thinking like this even after being shot out for 46, when you have to bat more than two-and-a-half days, but this is the quality (we have) and this is the kind of cricket we want to play in the future.”
That was Gautam Gambhir, India's head coach, at a press conference in October last year, after India's defeat to New Zealand in the first Test in Bangalore. After being bundled out for 46 in the first innings, India posted 462 in their second, briefly raising hopes of a remarkable comeback. It didn't happen. The series, in fact, would end up as a humiliating home series whitewash for the hosts.
But Gambhir had made his intentions clear – his team would play Tests with the bravado of T20 cricket. India would go on to lose the five-match Test series in Australia 3-1 and then the first match of the ongoing series against England at Headingley. But the defeat at Lord's is a lot more demoralising.
An unexpected four-wicket haul from Washington Sundar had set the game up nicely for the tourists. The victory target was 193, and even on a tricky Lord's pitch, they were expected to pull it off. But the fifth morning of the Lord's Test saw complete unravelling of the Indian Test team. There doesn't appear to be a way back from here and England would likely sweep the series.
Bringing the T20 template into Tests has seen the fast-tracking of so-called multi-skilled (read, bits-and-pieces) cricketers at the expense of specialists. That's why Kuldeep Yadav, the world's best spinner, is yet to get a game in this series. It worked for India at Edgbaston, which now feels like an aberration.
It's about the mindset and skill-set. Shubman Gill is probably the biggest case in point. After his 269 and 161 in the second Test at Edgbaston, Don Bradman was brought into conversation – that the India captain might surpass the great man's Test series record of 974, set in 1930. Lord's proved that it was a bad joke. Run-scoring is easy on flat pitches and when there's no pressure. It becomes a different ball game under pressure, and when the bowlers are asking tough questions. On Sunday, when he came out to bat, Gill looked tentative and nervous in the face of England’s hostility. The evening before, he was asking Zak Crawley to grow a pair. When the England fielders gave it back, the India skipper couldn't take it and fizzled.
Also Read | What is Team India's record under head coach Gautam Gambhir in Tests after Lord's defeat?
“Gill suddenly looking tentative last evening had a lot to do with the hostility he got at the crease from England. Virat performed better, the angrier he got. Dhoni the exact opposite. Gill must decide what gets the best out of him as batter, calmness or anger,” Sanjay Manjrekar, the former India batsman, posted on X (formerly Twitter).
The moral of the story: Blusters don't win you matches. Nor will Test cricket allow bit-and-pieces players trump the specialists. It's not a three-hour evening show. The likes of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington would only flatter to deceive.
P. S. From second slip, Harry Brook gave a timely reminder to Reddy: “Not at the IPL now.”
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