Oodles of dropped catches and two dismal batting collapses cost India dear in first Test against England at Headingley; Shubman Gill’s side lose by five wickets after dominating for much of the match, with new captain’s inexperience perhaps showing – second Test at Edgbaston begins July 2.
One of the underlying questions coming out of the first Test at Headingley is how on earth did India lose it.
They often had England on the ropes yet contrived to throw those advantages away through batting collapses and grassed catches.
Never before had a side notched five individual hundreds in a Test and lost but that’s exactly what happened to Shubman Gill’s men in Leeds, with tons for the skipper, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul plus two for the zany Rishabh Pant ultimately coming in vain.
A large reason was five dropped chances in England’s opening knock – the most India had shelled in an innings in five years – including Ollie Pope being spilled on 60 before making 106, Ben Duckett 15 before hitting 62 and Harry Brook 58 before scoring 99.
Brook was also reprieved on nought by a Jasprit Bumrah no-ball when scuffing a short delivery to Mohammed Siraj at mid-on, with that array of blunders really costing India as England ended just six runs shy of their opponents’ first-innings total.
In truth, though, India could already have been out of sight
