Going into the series, there were concerns around India's inexperienced batting lineup in the absence of recently retired batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. But, Rishabh Pant's twin centuries and openers Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and captain Shubman Gill's centuries helped India post big scores in the ongoing Test at Headingley, Leeds. However, the target set for host England would've been higher than 371, had it not been for the two collapses. In first innings, India were from 430/4 to 471 all out. In the second innings, India went from 333/4 to 364 all out.
Despite the collapses, Rahul has defended the lower order. He feels that the batters who missed out on scoring well in both the innings would be "frustrated with themselves". He believes that India needed to set a target in excess of 400 considering the position they were in.
"There was a little bit of discussion about how many runs we need on the board or... maybe giving them a few overs to bat in the evening today and see if we can pick up a wicket or two. Ideally, from the position we were in, we would've wanted at least 40 or 50 runs more," Rahul said in the press conference after Day 4's play.
"I don't look at it as lower order being from a different squad. They are still from our squad. They are still trying their best. Yes, more than me, more than the top order batsmen, the batters who have gotten out in both the innings will be more frustrated with themselves. Everyone is putting in a lot of work in the nets and sometimes it doesn't happen.
"When we started this Test match or before this series, the chat as a group was how could we get 350 and 400 runs every time we go out to bat. The positive is that we have been able to do that in both the innings that we have played. That's the positive. Yes, there are learnings and few of the batters, if they can come good as well, then quickly the 350 seems like we will go to 450 and 500 and that's ideally what a batting group would want. We will take the runs that we have got in this innings and take it from there."
Not even 100 runs combined in both innings for Sudharsan, Nair, Jadeja and Thakur
The batters who missed out in both innings are debutant Sai Sudharsan, comeback batter Karun Nair and all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur. Sudharsan followed up the four-ball duck with a 30-run knock. He was dismissed by Ben Stokes in both innings. Nair batted at no.6 instead of top order and followed up a four-ball duck with a 20-run knock. Jadeja was dismissed for 11 in first innings and ran out of partners in the second. He remained unbeaten for 25 off 40 deliveries. Thakur was disappointing in both innings as he registered single-digit scores. He was picked ahead of Nitish Kumar Reddy and is yet to take a wicket as well.