India faced a humiliating 28-run defeat against England in the first Test of the five-match series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The Indian team fell cheaply against the England spinners and ended with a score of 202 runs in the second innings. India took a lead of over 150 runs in the first innings but ended up losing the match despite being favorites to win the match.
As the Rohit Sharma-led team prepares for the second Test match in Visakhapatnam, India batting coach Vikram Rathour has stated that the team will continue its offensive approach against EnglandBazball tactics. The sweep shot was used as a weapon by the England batsmen against the lethal Indian spin attack.
Vikram Rathor During his speech at the pre-match press conference he stated that it is not very easy to execute the sweep shot. Rathour said the sweep shot requires a lot of preparation. Vikram Rathour further said that the Indian team will play only one type of cricket in the second match, which is straight and feet-based. This also results in the Indian batsmen not taking any sweeps during the match.
Vikram Rathour on India’s tactics against England’s ‘bazball’
Vikram Rathour said: “It’s not something you can try, you have to be prepared. Of course, if you can add more shots to your game, it will always be beneficial. You are right, we play in a traditional way, our strengths and strong areas go directly using our feet if we can add shots and score runs from the wicket, that is always a good addition.”
England did not start well during the first Test match and could only score 246 runs in the first innings. England captain Ben Stokes was the leading run-scorer in the first innings and played 70 innings off 88 balls. The English batsmen gave away their eight wickets out of ten to the Indian spinners.
The Rohit Sharma-led team put up a brilliant batting performance in their first innings and scored 436 runs in the first innings. Indian batsmen Yashasvi Jaiswal (80), KL Rahul (86) and Ravindra Jadeja (87) ended up being the highest run-scorer of the Indian innings.
However, Ollie Pope (199) led England’s brilliant comeback in the second innings and ensured the team took a 230-run lead in the first innings. Pope became the batsman to have the fourth highest score in the history of international cricket in the second innings of a visiting batsman. Ollie Pope will want to repeat his performance in the second match in Vizag.
Chasing the target, the Indian batsmen put on a failed batting show. The Rohit Sharma-led team got off to a decent start but Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed early for 15 runs and could not repeat the first innings performance. Apart from Jaiswal, Indian captain Rohit Sharma also failed to convert his start into a big score and scored 39 runs. KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were fired cheaply.
The Rohit Sharma-led team fell to fifth place in the 2023-25 World Test Championship standings and will want to recover the damage in the second Test match.