At Day 3, Stumps, the Edgbaston Test was delicately poised between England and India. The hosts needed 5 wickets, whereas India needed 84 runs to win the first Test and start the five-match series on a high. Everyone emphasised on the need to get Indian skipper Virat Kohli as early as possible. Even English strike bowler James Anderson said that they will dream with the belief of taking Kohli’s wicket and that’s exactly what they did.
The first hour of Day 4 was crucial and England executed their plans to perfection, there were no dropped catches this time. The first over of the day from Anderson set the tone by removing Dinesh Karthik. English bowlers did not let Kohli play too many balls in the initial phase.
Kohli was almost raring to get on the strike. Kohli stayed at the crease for 10.3 overs on Day 4 and only got to play 17 deliveries, one of the reasons why he was surprised by Ben Stokes with the ball coming towards him as he tried moving across the pitch to negate the outswing. He got out after scoring 51 runs from 93 deliveries, adding only 8 runs to his overnight score.
But, today’s results bring up one important question. Is it only Kohli’s job to see India win? Karthik did not learn from his previous mistakes and nicked one to the slips. Hardik Pandya started off promisingly but kept on exposing the tail. Pandya proved that he is not exactly a second innings player on overseas pitches. Though he did show some application in his batting, a betterment on his part but not enough.
There is not much one can ask from tailenders in this situation and pitch conditions. Earlier the top order failed in the last session of Day 3. Whether it was Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul or Ajinkya Rahane, all of them disappointed. Even Ravichandran Ashwin who has had an experience playing on English pitches for his County side Worcestershire could not hang on with Kohli.
Now pandya trusting umesh too.
Wow if pandya don’t know how to bat and trusting tailendors then why he is in team??— Tyrian lannister (@ticks1301) August 4, 2018
Virat Kohli in this Test scored 200 runs in two innings, Rest of the India batsmen scored 214 runs in 20 innings. #EngvInd
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 4, 2018
When our batting cruised through to big totals, the bowling attack failed to get 20 wickets on a regular basis. It’s now the other way around. This defeat will hurt! Unfortunate as it may be, it’s been a one man show with the bat – First SA and now this first test #EngvInd
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) August 4, 2018
Virat Kohli did everything to win this game as a batsman and as a captain. He has every reason to feel disappointed. He deserved nothing but Victory. A lot of positives to take into the next test for India on the bowling front. #ENGvIND
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) August 4, 2018
Thrilling test match but England collectively were much better. Sam Curran’s contribution with the bat yesterday eventually turned out to be the difference. India will look for more contributions from the other batsmen #ENGvIND
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) August 4, 2018
If Virat Kohli had half the support Sachin Tendulkar had (Ganguly, Laxman, Dravid, Sehwag etc), Kohli would have won India many away Tests. #EngvInd
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 4, 2018
In six out of 67 Tests Virat Kohli has been India’s top-scorer in both the innings (incl. incomplete innings). Sachin Tendulkar also had six such instances in his career of 200 Tests.
Clearly, India are more dependent on Kohli now than they used to be on Tendulkar. #ENGvIND— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) August 4, 2018
If u depend on a single batsman only then why the others r playing.
#EngvInd— Jajati Keshari (@Jazs999) August 4, 2018
Apart from @ImVkohlino one has been able to adapt to the conditions. The tail-enders have shown much more resolve than the frontline batsmen. We need to sort the middle-order conundrum quickly if we are to compete in this series. #ENGvIND
— VINOD KAMBLI (@vinodkambli349) August 4, 2018
The 29-year-old carried the team on his back with his maiden century in England. But it is unrealistic to expect him to see the team through on every occasion. India had a real chance of winning the first Test but they fell short by 32 runs.
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If the visitors are to make an impact in the five-match Test series, it is not just Kohli who needs to perform. He needs support from his batting unit. It’s a team game after all!
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