Report Card: How Team India Fared in Test Series Against England
How did Virat Kohli & co fare in their 1-4 loss to England in the five-match Test series.
As part of their quadrennial visit to the English country, Virat Kohli and co have just wrapped up playing three ODIs, three T20s and five Tests against England.
After winning the three-match T20I series 2-1, the visitors lost the 2-1 to England in the ODI series. The result of the final series of the tour was however completely lopsided in the hosts’ favour, with England winning the Tests 4-1.
Here’s how the Indian cricketers performed in their big English ‘Test’.
Virat Kohli – 7/10
After the disastrous 2014 series, Virat Kohli made sure to minimalise his mistakes with the bat this year. Scoring a total of 593 runs, including two centuries and three half-centuries, the skipper savoured India’s pride in innings where the other batsman failed to perform.
Virat doesn’t lose marks as a batsman, but as a captain. Over the course of the series, India just never seemed to have got the team combination right, especially that of the openers.
Shikhar Dhawan – 1/10
162 runs in 8 innings as opener? Meh!
Let’s just say, there are more photos of Shikhar Dhawan walking back to the hut than him batting this series. After scores of 26 and 13 in the first Test, he was replaced by KL Rahul for the second match. But when fellow opener Murali Vijay failed to do much either, Dhawan once again found a place in the team. He put up scores of 33 and 44 in that Test, and well, that remained his ‘best performance’ of the series.
Cheteshwar Pujara – 5/10
The Indian top order was pretty much in shambles throughout the series. But if one had to pick the best performer from the top 3, it was Cheteshwar Pujara.
Ignored for the first Test, Pujara contributed two crucial knocks in the third and fourth games. He scored a 72 in the second innings of the Nottingham Test, that India went on to win by 203 runs. At Southampton, his unbeaten 132 helped India take a first innings lead and keep in them in contention.
Ajinkya Rahane – 3/10
Despite playing all five games, Ajinkya Rahane has nearly been invisible this series. The vice-captain though did contribute to the middle-order with two half-centuries, scoring 257 runs in 10 innings.
But considering he wasn’t playing the two series in the shorter format, and had enough time to prepare, a bit more was definitely expected from him.
Ishant Sharma – 8/10
“Mighty proud” – That’s what Ishant Sharma should be of his performance in the series. Right from picking a five-wicket haul in the opener, the 30-year-old pacer consistently performed well through the series.
Leading a well-rounded pace attack, Sharma was India’s highest wicket-taker in the series, with 18 wickets in five matches at an average of 24.27.
Ravichandran Ashwin – 4/10
Ashwin got off to a great start in the series, picking 7 wickets in the opener at Birmingham. But henceforth, the senior spinner's performance went on a downward curve as he picked just 4 wickets in the next three Tests.
The 31-year-old played the fourth Test at Southampton with an injury, and was forced to sit out of the final match after aggravating it.
Hardik Pandya – 5/10
Virat in the post-match presentation said that the difference between the winning and losing side was debutant and all-rounder Sam Curran. Well that’s true. Because Curran’s Indian counterpart Hardik Pandya failed to hardly make an impact.
That is, barring his performance in the third match at Trent Bridge, where he picked a fifer and scored a half-century in the sole Test that India won. Besides that, Pandya added 112 runs and took 5 wickets in 7 innings. After scoring 4 runs and picking 1 scalp in the fourth match, he was dropped for the final Test.
Jasprit Bumrah – 7/10
Despite missing two matches, Jasprit Bumrah was India’s third-highest wicket-taker in the series, with 14 scalps in 3 Tests.
Replacing Kuldeep Yadav for the third Test, the pacer took seven wickets at Nottingham, including a fifer in the second innings that helped India bowl England out and to win the match!
KL Rahul – 3/10
He got 10 chances in 10 innings, but KL Rahul could make most of just one of those.
After scores of 4, 13, 8, 10, 23, 36, 19, 0, 37, he smashed a 149 against England at the Oval and gave India a glimmer of hope in the second innings. Rahul had the second-highest runs by an Indian in the tour. But that says more about India’s disastrous batting line-up, than KL Rahul.
Ravindra Jadeja – 7/10
Replacing an injured Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja got a chance to play just the final Test against England. But the all-rounder made sure to make most of it.
He picked up a total of seven wickets and scored an unbeaten 86 in the first innings.
Rishabh Pant – 6/10
Just his debut Test series, and Rishabh Pant looks so promising! He started off his international red-ball career with a six, and scored a century in just his third match, also off a six.
In the three matches that he played, he took 15 catches behind the stumps to dismiss the England batsman, not leaving much to complain about.
Hanuma Vihari – 6/10
Another young batsman who made his debut in this series, 24-year-old Hanuma Vihari played just the final match but seems like another exciting prospect for the future team. He scored a half-century on debut at the Oval.
But that isn’t the best part! The Andhra cricketer dismissed Alastair Cook (147, and playing his final international) and captain Joe Root (125) in successive balls in England’s second innings. In the 9.3 overs that he bowled, Vihari returned with figures of 3/37.
Murali Vijay – 1/10
Another example of what went wrong with the Indian top-order – Murali Vijay. After scoring 26 runs in the first match, and getting out for two ducks in the second Test, the opener was dropped from the playing eleven for the remainder of the series.
Mohammed Shami – 6/10
An important part of the earlier mentioned well-rounded pace attack, Mohammed Shami too gave consistent performances through the series. He picked three wickets each in the first two Tests, and two in the third match. In the fourth Test at Southampton, he returned with figures of 4/57 and 2/51, and finished off the series with two wickets at the Oval.
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