The victorious England proved a champion team seldom depends on one individual to get the better of the opposition. In its 4-1 defeat of India at home, England was well served by at least seven players, who came to the party in crunch situations and that was its main strength.
KL Rahul getting bowled by Adil Rashid after his marathon effort at The Oval
Chennai:
In contrast, India leaned heavily on Virat Kohli in batting, though its fast bowling came of age with this tour. In batting, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay, the acknowledged experts in Tests for the opening slot, looked out of sorts in English conditions and even KL Rahul was all at sea in the first nine innings he played.
However, Rahul responded well when he too faced a probable exit with a fluent century at The Oval. The difference between Dhawan and Rahul was that the latter showed intent and played without inhibition. Dhawan looked tentative in most of the innings and failed to correct himself or counter attack which could have probably helped him with some scores against his name.
That was where Dhawan’s young Delhi colleague Rishabh Pant made his point. He played fearlessly, more like his predecessor Virender Sehwag and when he and KL Rahul were in full flow the target of 464 looked well within sight.
In fact, the ball that Adil Rashid bowled to dismiss Rahul was compared in the social media with that of Shane Warne’s Ball of the Century to get Mike Gatting out. If Rahul and Pant had stayed for another 15 overs or so, the story night have been different.
For England, there was always one player who put his hands up in every crisis. If Sam Curran was the hero of its first win with his all-round show, there was Chris Woakes coming up with a century. Sam Curran was dropped from the team and he came back with another telling batting performance lower down the order that frustrated the Indian bowlers. Jos Buttler was also in the form of his life as he carried his good effort in the IPL to the Tests.
At The Oval, Stuart Broad too chipped in with a useful knock when England was in danger of getting bowled out for less than 225 to add another 100 for the last two wickets. Overall, India won some sessions but when it had to drive the last nail England offered resistance.
Injured Ravi Ashwin’s off-spin was not effective after the first Test and this was where the team management missed Kuldeep Yadav, who along with Ravindra Jadeja, would have been quite a handful in the last Test.