Gambhir Defends India's Lower Order Despite Test Collapse; Cites Missed Catches, Workload Management as Key Factors

India's hopes crumbled on the final day at Headingley, succumbing to a 371-run chase by England. Despite moments of control, India ultimately fell short, marking their seventh loss in the last nine Tests. The defeat was particularly disheartening as victory seemed within reach.

India amassed 835 runs, with five centurions, including Rishabh Pant scoring a century in both innings, yet still tasted defeat. The undoing lay in two significant batting collapses.

The Indian batting order suffered a loss of 7 wickets for 41 runs in the first innings and 6 for 31 in the second. The initial collapse squandered a chance to put England under pressure after winning the toss. This allowed England to get within six runs of India's 471. The second collapse left India with a defendable 371, a target England successfully chased.

India dropped crucial catches throughout the Test match on a surface that didn't offer a lot of help. © Getty

Shubman Gill, after his century, said the team was aiming for a target of "around 435". However, coach Gautam Gambhir believed an even higher first-innings score would have sealed the game. "If we could've got to 570, 580 in the first innings, we could've dominated from there," he stated.

Gambhir defended the lower order's performance. Shardul Thakur, chosen for his all-round abilities, was dismissed playing expansive shots in both innings. Prasidh Krishna fell attempting a slog sweep alongside Ravindra Jadeja.

"Look, first of all, it's not that they weren't applying themselves. Sometimes people fail. And that's okay," Gambhir explained. "I know it's disappointing. And more importantly, I think they were more disappointed than anyone, because they knew we had the opportunity. It's not like they're not working hard in the nets. These things happen. Even proper batters fail. Hopefully they'll learn, and hopefully we'll get better performances from our tail. And that is not the only reason we lost the Test match."

Another factor was India's poor catching, dropping seven catches, with Yashasvi Jaiswal being a repeat offender. Jaiswal dropped Ben Duckett who was on 97, and the batter went on to score a pivotal 149. Gill emphasized the need for improvement.

"Yes, that was something that we spoke about," Gill acknowledged. "But when you are out there in the middle, it happens so quickly. And I think it would be one of those things that we have to rectify in the upcoming matches. Chances don't come easy, especially on wickets like these, and we dropped quite a few catches. But I think we have got a young team, still a learning one, and hopefully, in the next matches, we'll be able to improve on those aspects."

Gambhir dismissed the "young team" excuse. "Every defeat is bad. It's not about a young team or an experienced team. It's an Indian team. We take pride in winning each and every game for our country. A young team is not an excuse. We represent 140 crore proud Indians. We will try and give our absolute best. There are no excuses. We will turn up every Test match thinking that we can win the test match and win the series."

The coach also confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah will only play two more Tests to manage his workload. The specific matches are yet to be decided. "No, we won't change the plans. I think for us to manage his workload is more important because there's a lot of cricket going forward and we know what he brings on the table as well. Before he came on the show, it was already decided that he's going to play three Test matches.

"But let's see how his body turns out. We haven't decided which two other Test matches he's going to play. [Even without Bumrah] we absolutely have the bowling attack [to compete]. We believe in them. We trust in them. When we pick the squad, we pick the squad on trust, not on hope. As I just mentioned, those are inexperienced bowlers but they will keep getting better. We saw in this Test match as well that for the first four days, even on day five, we were in a position where we could have won the Test match. We believe and we trust that these boys will deliver for us."