Following the loss in the first Test match against England, Team India skipper Shubman Gill admitted that the lower-order collapse led them to the unwanted result.
“It was a brilliant Test match. We had our chances, we dropped catches and our lower-order didn`t contribute enough, but proud of the team and overall a good effort,” said Gill in the post-match presentation.
This is the first time in Indian cricket history that a team has suffered defeat despite registering five individual centuries. Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Gill scored one century each, whereas Rishabh Pant smashed two centuries during the match.
Despite suffering a loss in a match, where the Indian side had more chances to secure the win, Gill defended the visitors by saying it is a young team and will be able to improve on their mistakes.
“Definitely, chances don`t come easy on wickets like these. It`s a young team, (a) learning one and hopefully we will be able to improve on those aspects,” he said.
The Gill-led side will now clash against the `Three Lions` from July 2 at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground. Previously, there were discussions conducted on lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah`s feature in the five-match series. The pacer was advised not to play consecutive Test matches due to his workload management.
Speaking about Bumrah`s feature, the Indian skipper said, “It`s definitely more game by game. Once we are close to the match, we will see”.
England captain Ben Stokes praised India for an impressive start to the Test, especially on the first day, but also lauded openers Ben Duckett (149) and Zak Crawley (65), who set up their win on the last day. “The opposition is allowed to play well, though they played very well in that first session,” he said.
“The pressure of a fourth innings and going out there is tough, especially in England. That partnership between Zak (Crawley) and Ben (Duckett) was incredible to get us going. To get that down to set us off in a run chase was incredible,” said Stokes.
“There`s a lot of skill that has contributed to winning this Test match but also the attitude we showed was incredible. We were on the field for long periods of time in this game, thought we turned up with the attitude that we could break this game open at any time,” he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
