England Vs India 2018: Three things we learnt from the first Test

The first of the much-anticipated five Tests between India and England ended in another Indian relinquishment in the hands of England. Looking back, team India will feel that this was another great chance to beat England in their own backyard that they let go.

Opting to bat first, England collapsed after showing resilience in the first two sessions of Day 1 and were bowled out for 287. Poor application by the Indian batsmen meant that India missed out on a slender 50-run lead. The only man who stood out was India's skipper Virat Kohli with his 149.

Indian pacers dragged their team back in the game before a blitzkrieg from Sam Curran propelled England to a lead of near 200. India's run chase went nowhere as they found themselves 31 runs short.

Let us take a look at 3 major things that we learnt from this Test match.

---

#3 Form should not be the only criteria for selection

Pujara's bad form at Yorkshire

costed

him his place from the playing XI

While everyone was busy with the IPL, Pujara spent his time playing County Championship for Yorkshire to get used to the English conditions before the all-important tour. The move backfired as it did not do any good to his personal form but rather made him lose his place from the side.

Pujara's dismal stint with the Yorkshire saw 169 runs from 12 innings at a mediocre average of 14. India opted to go with an in-form KL Rahul instead of Pujara who did not have sufficient runs under his belt.

When a lot of Indian batsmen got out playing unnecessary rash shots throughout the course of this Test match, the Saurashtra batsman could have been the one who would have showed temperament and stayed at the crease.

Pujara has been India's best No.3 batsman for quite some time now and his axing because of his poor form in County Championship was absurd. It was one of those rare cases where a player got penalised for doing the right thing!

#2 Chasing in Test cricket and ODI cricket is chalk and cheese

Chasing anything near 200 in Test cricket is a very daunting task

No matter how easy chasing becomes in the limited-overs formats, batting fourth in a Test match is still the toughest challenge a team could face in the game of cricket. With the advent of T20 cricket, teams are increasingly becoming comfortable batting second.

However, in Test cricket, the picture is totally different. If the second innings lead goes beyond 150, the team bowling last are the firm favourites irrespective of the pitch and conditions. Also, the attacking mindset brought in by T20 cricket has caused severe deterioration in the technique and temperament of batsmen.

A lot of batsmen are willing to attack their way out of the trouble instead of grinding it out, an approach which is not recommended on a 4th innings pitch. In this Test, the Indian batsmen found themselves unable to stitch in even a single 50-run partnership in the 4th innings which was disappointing.

#1 If you have a mystery element, then better unleash it!

Kuldeep troubled the English batsmen throughout the ODI and T20 series

The buzz after the toss when Virat Kohli announced the playing XI for the Edgbaston Test was, 'Where is Kuldeep Yadav?'. It was surprising to see Kuldeep being left out of the playing XI after his sensational show in limited-overs matches. With a five-fer in T20I and a six-fer in an ODI, he was an automatic choice.

The exclusion of Kuldeep was surprising considering that India opted to not use the X-factor in their armoury. Also, many batsmen from the England team like Cook, Jennings, Malan have not faced Kuldeep before which would have made more sense for Kuldeep to play, not to mention the heat wave and not-so-English pitch.

One thing that India can learn from this is, if you have a mystery element, then better unleash it. Kuldeep's presence would have certainly made a big impact on India's performance.