Gambhir Defends India's Tailenders After Test Collapse, Cites Costly Dropped Catches

India's campaign at Headingley concluded in disappointment as England completed a 371-run chase, leading to a Test defeat. Despite scoring 835 runs and featuring five centurions, including Rishabh Pant with a century in each innings, India's efforts were undermined by two significant batting collapses.

Indian fielders missed several crucial catches during the Test match. © Getty

The Indian team suffered a loss of 7 wickets for 41 runs in the first innings and 6 for 31 in the second. These collapses transformed a potentially dominant position into a chaseable target for England.

Shubman Gill, who marked his captaincy debut with a century, revealed the team's initial target was around 435 runs. However, head coach Gautam Gambhir suggested that reaching 570 or 580 in the first innings could have secured India's dominance.

Despite the lower order's struggles, Gambhir defended their efforts, stating, "It's not that they weren't applying themselves. Sometimes people fail. And that's okay. Even proper batters fail." He acknowledged the players' disappointment and expressed hope for improved performances from the tail-enders in future matches. He also emphasized that the batting collapses weren't solely responsible for the Test defeat.

Another critical factor contributing to India's loss was their substandard catching performance. They dropped seven catches, including a costly miss by Yashasvi Jaiswal that allowed Ben Duckett to score a match-defining 149.

Gill acknowledged the dropped catches as an area needing improvement, especially on challenging wickets. He hopes his young team can rectify this in future matches.

Gambhir rejected the "young team" excuse, stating, "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... We will turn up every Test match thinking that we can win the test match and win the series."

In other team news, Jasprit Bumrah is slated to play only two more Test matches, according to a pre-series workload management plan. The specific matches haven't been decided yet. Gambhir expressed confidence in the team's bowling attack even without Bumrah, emphasizing the trust placed in the squad. He believes the inexperienced bowlers will continue to improve and contribute to the team's success.