India vs England: Tragedy of errors

Till a week back, after what was called an inspiring performance of Team India at Edgbaston, there was hope in visitors' dressing room. Virat Kohli looked to be in complete command after his 200 runs in the first Test of the series against England.

However, a rain-marred Lord's Test has changed it all. Though the second Test stretched till Day 4, in reality India lost it in two-and-a-half days. The world No. 1 Test team lasted just 82.2 overs in both the innings, scoring 237 runs (107 and 130, playing 35.2 and 47 overs respectively). The Test which could see a total of only 170.2 overs bowled, over three innings. And visitors are now 0-2 down, and whispers of a possible whitewash are gaining ground.

Yes. But Kohli & Co knew it well in advance and that's why our world No. 1 batsman had planned to play County cricket to get used to conditions soon after the cash-rich Indian Premier League.

He, however, picked up a neck injury during the second last game (game No. 51) playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 17 in the IPL.

And only he can explain now as to why he chose the final game on May 19, risking his Surrey stint.

It is another thing that Kohli backers termed his County miss as "a blessing in disguise as a break from the game has refreshed him completely". What was forgotten in this debate was that during his last English full tour in 2014, Kohli had struggled to get going and managed only 134 runs in all five Tests.

Nevertheless, he started the ongoing tour with an inspiring innings of 149 at Edgbaston. The ghosts of 2014 and 2011 looked to be buried under this single knock. The dropping of India's batting backbone, Cheteshwar Pujara, was also not discussed despite the defeat. But the shattering defeat of an innings and 159 runs has now opened up a fresh debate.

There is no doubt that England has always been a big challenge for recent touring Indians. Especially when 20-20 format has shortened their desire to stay long at the wicket.

So, it was always expected that our batsmen would find it tough to tackle the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran. And then losing ever reliable Bhuvneshwar Kumar and fast-improving Jasprit Bumrah even before a ball is being bowled jolted Kohli and Team India think-tank. This created confusion in the dressing room and saw India playing two spinners in conditions that were screaming for seamers.

The biggest beneficiary was of course all-rounder, if he is to be called, Hardik Pandya, who was preferred over regular Umesh Yadav or Shardul Thakur as third seam bowler.

Indian gamble backfired as young Kuldeep Yadav went wicketless in his nine overs giving away 44 runs while his spin partner Ravichandran Ashwin bowled 17 overs without any success.

Missing a fourth fast bowler proved to be quite costly for India as Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Pandya had to bowl long spells and were tiring out in the process.

The other blunder at the Lord's was to continue with veteran wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik. Having made his debut almost a decade and half back, Karthik has been doing well in shorter formats. But by not including young Rishabh Pant, Team India think-tank has shown that it has no inclination towards grooming players for the future.

Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri have their own ideas. They have always shown that they are ready to make short-term sacrifices to win games than thinking of future prospects.

The biggest challenge for Team India going into the third Test is to find a stable and confident opening pair.

But having seen Shikhar Dhawan fishing outside off-stump, and now Murali Vijay gifting his wickets for a pair, one would wonder if Ajinkya Rahane could well be promoted to accommodate Karun Nair in the middle. However, it goes without saying that this choice would be utterly harsh on Rahane.

KL Rahul fared no better scoring eight and 10 in both innings. As a result, Pujara had to face the new ball twice but was found wanting on both occasions. Though he faced 25 and 87 balls in both innings, his strike rate failed him on both occasions.

Indian batters were so poor in their show that injured skipper had to come out to try and save his team's case in the second innings even though he was struggling with back ache.

There is no hiding from the fact that Team India is under tremendous pressure, but Kohli and Shastri have to make sure that it rises from the ashes and focus on the remaining three games to avoid further humiliation.