An area of weakness: India and the tail that doesn't wag

Losing the last 6 wickets for 24 and 31 runs hurt the team despite the top order delivering at Leeds

- Ashish Magotra

NEW DELHI: There are many reasons why India became the first team to lose a Test after scoring five centuries. It could be the poor catching. It could be the tactically-inept coaching. It could be inexperienced captaincy. It could simply be because England were the better side.

You can take your pick but there is no denying that the visitors had chances to take charge but showed a damning frailty when it mattered the most.

In the first innings, India were cruising at 430/3. The fans were smiling and looking at this young team in a new light. Yashasvi Jaiswal (101), skipper Shubman Gill (147) and Rishabh Pant (134) had done enough to give the team a solid platform. Then, they went from 430/3 to 471 all out with the last five wickets contributing just 18 runs.

This was the moment head coach Gautam Gambhir felt India lost control of the game. "If we could've got to 570, 580 in the first innings, we could've dominated from there," he said. He isn't wrong, a total in that range would have piled the pressure on the hosts and maybe put a loss out of the picture.

A repeat performance followed in the second innings. India cruising at 333/4 — thanks to hundreds by KL Rahul (137) and Pant (118) — collapsed to 364 all out with the last five wickets adding just 29 runs.

In the post-match chat, Gill revealed that India had aimed for a target "around 435".