Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir expressed that in the recently concluded Southampton Test which Team India lost by a margin of 60 runs, the visitors should’ve chased down the target of 245 runs. The Indian team was given a target of 245, but during the quest of the same, Chasing 245, India was bowled out for a meager score of 184 as England wrapped up a series win with a Test remaining on Sunday.
Gambhir termed India’s defeat as ‘frustrating’ as he reckons that the Indian batsmen played irresponsibly. In fact, the English all-rounder Moeen Ali who engineered England’s win after returning to Test cricket after a gap of almost six months as he was better than his Indian counterpart R Ashwin with match figures of 9/124.
Gambhir, who has played 58 Tests and scored 4154 runs, felt the target was gettable and that the visitors were still in the contest when captain Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were batting.
ALSO READ: Virat Kohli Has Been Drafted In Delhi’s Ranji team
As quoted in Times of India, Gautam said, “Obviously a frustrating loss for India. You expect Indian batters to chase 245 on this wicket. Obviously, Moeen Ali was a threat. But the way Virat Kohli and Rahane were going, India was in the game. Some of the shots were absolutely not up to the mark, especially Rishabh Pant. You don’t expect when you are chasing around 90 runs and you start playing like this. Obviously, you can be brave but there are better options that could have been taken.”
A lot has been spoken about how the pitch conditions were not in favor of the visitors, but Gambhir clearly mentioned that wicket wasn’t that bad as Indian bowlers have taken 20 wickets but he also credited England for outplaying India.
ALSO READ: Gautam Gambhir To Contest Delhi Elections
Gautam concluded, “India batters should have gotten this total on this wicket. Moeen Ali was a threat and then they had three fast bowlers plus Sam Curran. But I thought that the wicket wasn’t that bad as it looked and it played really well, especially from the fast bowler’s point of view. All credit to England. They completely outplayed India in this Test. Whatever people can say, I think 60-run defeat is massive.”
Having already conceding an unassailable lead of 3-1 in the five-match Test series, Team India had the chance to add some respectability to the scoreline in the fifth and final Test at Kennington Oval which starts from Friday.
