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On 13th February, England strode out at the MA Chidambaram Stadium having inflicted a chastening cut to India’s ICC World Test Championship hopes. At that juncture, the Three Lions had become the first side since Australia (in 2017) to win a Test in India, meaning that several tipped them to quash the hosts’ challenge for Test cricket’s premier accolade.
However, on the first day of the 2nd Test itself, England confronted a track that spun and bounced viciously. Subsequently, the ghosts, which they had seemingly buried post the success in the 1st game, came gushing back. And, rather unsurprisingly, the hosts rinsed England as the former registered a commanding 317-run victory.
Thus, over the past week, the narrative has revolved around England’s ability (or lack thereof) against the turning ball – something that has always been under a cloud.
Having said that though, a Day-Night contest at the Narendra Modi Stadium was perceived to provide the visitors the best chance to haul themselves back into the series. Not just because the pink ball alters the dynamics of the sport considerably, but also due to the fact England seem relatively more experienced than the Indians on that front.
Moreover, days before the 3rd instalment, there were signs that the pitch would have a bit of live grass – something that would prevent the pink ball from deteriorating catastrophically. Yet, as the clock ticked down to the game, those bits of grass were shaved (unsurprisingly), meaning that England had another dry pitch to tackle, come the 24th of February.
To that end, they perhaps did extremely well to win the toss and set their sights on achieving the template that bore fruit at Chennai. Unfortunately, though, that was where the similarities ended as the Three Lions wilted to 112 – a total which is their 2nd lowest in India.
Throughout the innings, England looked extremely circumspect against the spinners. Most worryingly though, a lot of their dismissals highlighted a cluttered mindset – an aspect that has derailed many a batting line-up previously.
In fact, such was their indecisiveness that the visitors lost most of their wickets to deliveries that didn’t turn. Though there were the odd balls that spat off the strip, those were in relative short supply, as compared to the 2nd Test.
England produced a poor batting display at Ahmedabad
However, the scars from that mauling seemed to resurface time and again, especially as England tried their utmost to personify a rabbit caught in the headlights, both literally and metaphorically.
For large swathes, there was no conviction in the English batsmen’s footwork. Back when England won at Chennai, their batsmen, including Joe Root, either went fully forward or were inclined to drop deep into their crease. However, since then, that facet has alarmingly gone amiss.
Even in the 1st innings at Ahmedabad, England were content to just hang in their crease, rather than coming onto the front foot or going onto the back foot. Consequently, it allowed the Indian bowlers to settle into a rhythm and place the ball on a coin.
Most tellingly though, the lack of foot movement forced England’s batsmen to play the ball off the pitch – something that made the arm balls or the ones that didn’t spin, a lot more dangerous.
Axar Patel was introduced into the attack in the 7th over and at that point, the ball was relatively new and hard. However, despite there being minimal indications of the ball turning, Jonny Bairstow played for the spin and was beaten on the inside, before the ball thudded into the pads.
A few overs later, Zak Crawley, who had played brilliantly till then, perished when one delivery continued with the arm and rapped him in front. And, just after the Tea interval, Ben Stokes departed in similar fashion, when Axar Patel got one to hold its line off the surface.
At the other end, Ravichandran Ashwin, courtesy his craft and guile, pushed Ollie Pope onto the back foot before unfurling a vicious arm ball. As expected, Pope played for the turn and saw his off stump pegged back, when the ball went straight.
The trend continued towards the twilight of England’s innings, with Ben Foakes and Jofra Archer also sent packing via a congruent modus operandi.
Through each of those dismissals though, the trend that was common was that of England hoping to play these deliveries off the pitch, rather than smothering it. In turn, the aforementioned let to them being a tad indecisive when the situation demanded – something that opened up a plethora of wicket-taking avenues for the Indian bowlers.
To put things into further context, Joe Root, who was one of the few batsmen to be dismissed by a ball that spun, was guilty of going too deep into his crease. That it happened to a delivery that was pretty full, only made things worse.
Apart from the English skipper, Ben Stokes also looked very tentative and preferred staying in his crease, barring the one occasion when he pumped Ashwin for a boundary over mid-on. Unsurprisingly, he was caught on the crease when he failed to read an arm ball from Axar Patel, meaning that he was pinged in front and was adjudged LBW.
Ollie Pope, too, somehow decided it was prudent to not come down the track, despite Ashwin generously tossing the ball up. In fact, just a couple of deliveries prior to his dismissal, he had come fully forward and had negotiated any potential turn. However, when he failed to do so, the Indian ripped one past his outside edge, flattening the latter’s off stump in the process.
Additionally, England’s tactic to play on the back foot backfired spectacularly because of the pace on offer at Ahmedabad. At Chennai, both pitches were a shade slower and offered the batsmen the time to adjust. However, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, that was hardly the case, for everything that happened off the surface, transpired relatively briskly.
Thus, as the dust perhaps settles on another wretched English batting innings, one might be forgiven to think that England got their approach entirely wrong, never mind the execution.
In the 1st Test, they deployed the sweep shot effectively and reaped the rewards. However, once that stroke has been taken out of the equation, they’ve looked extremely patchy against Ashwin and Axar. And, at Ahmedabad, that shakiness perhaps reached its crescendo.
Subsequently, with three batting innings remaining, it seems that England have plenty of quandaries to answer, and of course, potential run-scoring methods to rummage through.
So far, they’ve come unstuck spectacularly, meaning that it might not be long before the 1st innings of the 1st Test at Chennai is termed an aberration, with lackadaisicalness on turning pitches threatening to become the norm.
As for the essay during the 1st innings of the 3rd Test at Ahmedabad, it could well be a case of England retreating too deep into their shell, quite literally as well.
And, if that indeed ends up summing up their series post the triumph at Chennai, one reckons it might perhaps add a poetic layer to the prosaic landscape they’ve painted for themselves.
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