Michael Atherton Blamed KL Rahul For India’s Defeat: The highest score among the top seven batters in India’s first innings was Shubman Gill’s 23. Captain Rohit Sharma scored just one more run. While these two may be considered “failures” in the context of the game, both played important roles on Day 1. Despite this, India posted a substantial team total, reaching 421/7 by the end of Day 2. This gave them a comfortable lead of 175 runs over England, who had managed 246 in their first innings.
In India’s top seven batters, Shreyas Iyer had the lowest score of 35. Three of them scored more than 80 runs. If Ravichandran Ashwin hadn’t been run out in a mix-up with Ravindra Jadeja, he might have added more runs to the total. Although every batter, except Ashwin, has had a decent start in this Test for India, none has managed to score a century.
“KL Rahul Is The Biggest Culprit…”: Michael Atherton
In the game’s context, the individual setbacks might not be a significant concern as India has positioned itself well ahead of England. However, for individual confidence, it could potentially leave an impact as the batting unit is still in the process of establishing itself.
Yashasvi Jaiswal missed out on a century, attempting a risky shot after hitting a boundary off Joe Root, eventually giving a return catch to the bowler when he was on 80.
KL Rahul, batting at No.4 in the absence of Virat Kohli, showcased a masterclass but fell short of a deserved century. He mistimed a Tom Hartley half-tracker and was caught at deep midwicket when he was just 14 runs away from his 9th Test century.
Former England captain Michael Atherton criticized the Indian batters, describing them as “generous.” He specifically pointed out that Virat Kohli, who was absent in the match, would not have thrown away opportunities like Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul did.
In his column for The Times, Atherton said: “They were fortunate that India’s top order were in a generous mood but the situation at the close was very bad even so, and could have been even worse. It is hard to imagine that Virat Kohli would have been as obliging as his team-mates were here, and the biggest culprit was his replacement at No 4, the stylish and gifted KL Rahul, who had a hundred for the taking before hammering a long-hop from Tom Hartley into the deep,”
Atherton also pointed out the puzzling situation where the lead spinner, Jack Leach, bowled the fewest number of overs among all the bowlers used by England captain Ben Stokes. He said:
“The most puzzling aspect revolved around the deployment of Jack Leach, England’s most experienced spinner. Until now, Leach has been something of a pet project for Ben Stokes and, in response to the many shows of faith, Leach has responded by growing in stature and confidence.”
“Here, though, he was sparingly used, bowling only two overs in the morning and seven in the afternoon, the latter spread over three spells. All told, he bowled 16 overs in the day in six spells, his longest being of four overs.
“This clearly required some explanation, given the medical team were said to be happy with his bowling loads in training in the run-up to this series, with the obvious proviso (mine not theirs) of a lack of match practice, given England’s decision to train in Abu Dhabi rather than play competitive matches in India.”
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