Time For India To Change Playbook

Team management's preference for batting depth over 20 wickets might have cost them in both Australia & Leeds

- GOMESH S @Chennai

As Jamie Smith sent Ravindra Jadeja into the Headingley stands to take England home—with Jasprit Bumrah watching from the dressing room—in the first Test against India, a familiar feeling lingered among the visitors. For the fourth time (second time in England) in the last three and a half years, the Indian bowlers fell flat in the fourth innings, allowing the opponents to chase a total which they felt was enough.

It had happened twice in South Africa and once in Edgbaston in the same year. On Tuesday, it was Ben Duckett and Joe Root who led the way against a Bumrah-led bowling attack. What was more worrisome was that long before the chase concluded in the last session of the match, the fate of the game was sealed. The moment had passed when Bumrah was not able to provide the early breakthrough, India's hopes, slowly, but steadily, slipped away.