India were favourites to win the first Test in Headingley at the start of Day 5. (AP Photo)Among the many things that were noted about how India went about their business over the course of the final day of the first Test against England at Headingley was was the amount of instructions that senior players of the side like KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant were giving after Prasidh Krishna’s strikes in the second session. Former India spinner Murali Kartik has said that that multiple players giving instructions in the field in addition to the captain is never a good sign.
“At one point I felt there were too many captains,” said Kartik on Cricbuzz. “I just couldn’t understand that. KL Rahul was making hand movements, Rishabh Pant was also doing it, and so was Shubman Gill who is actually the man appointed as captain. I couldn’t understand those multiple hand signals. You wouldn’t want to complicate things. There is only one captain.”
“A senior player making slight changes here and there, correcting someone slightly when they feel they are slightly in the wrong position, sending third man or short fine, mid-on, mid-off; these are all fine occasionally. However, so many players taking calls so frequently is not a good sign.”
India were favourites to win the first Test in Headingley at the start of Day 5, even after a lower order collapse in the second innings in which they lost six wickets for 16 runs. England needed to chase down a target of 371 but they ended up doing it with relative ease, with the frailty of India’s bowlers barring Jasprit Bumrah being laid out bare and Gill’s own inexperience as captain coming to the fore on occasions.
“It did look like Shubman Gill was feeling the pressure, he was following the ball a little bit with his field placements,” said Kartik, echoing what former England captain Nasser Hussain also said in commentary multiple times. “It is not easy to stamp your authority as captain in the field, especially when your bowlers are not able to stick to your plans and that could be seen. These are small things but they come under scrutiny when you lose. Because 371 runs is a lot and it didn’t even look like a wicket was going to come at all in the first session.”
England’s chase was built on a dominant 188-run opening partnership between Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley. Duckett was especially damaging for India as he punished the wayward bowling of Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur in particular in the first session and went on to smash 149 in 170 balls. While India managed to create some jeopardy in the second half of the second session and the early exchanges of the third, Joe Root took over and calmly saw England home.
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