India’s Unforced Errors Haunt Them Again
Newz Daddy Cricket Updates
From Collapses to Fielding Slips, Examine India’s Unforced Errors Allowed England to Fight Their Way Back.
The game was at a tough point. Under cloudy skies, England was scoring well, with 129 runs and only two players out. They had already survived one strong bowling attack from Bumrah. At the start of this new part of the game, India really hoped their best bowler, Bumrah, could get them back on track. And he almost did! Bumrah bowled a tricky ball that made an older player, Ollie Pope, hit a weak shot. The ball flew up, and another player, Yashasvi Jaiswal, caught it easily.
This was the very last ball of the 31st over. When the umpire gave Bumrah his cap back, Bumrah hid his face in it. No one went to him for a moment until Rishabh Pant ran a long way to give him a comforting hug.
This moment perfectly showed India’s day. They kept missing chances when good things were about to happen. Even worse, they made lots of errors and left the door open for England when they should have closed it tightly.
The first three and a half parts of the game were all India’s. They were in control with a huge score of 430 runs for only 3 players out. They should have been in charge, but then, a common problem happened, they made unforced errors and lost 7 players for only 41 runs, ending their turn batting with 471 total. This was a very low score for a team that had three players score over 100 runs each!
India should have stopped batting earlier, declaring their innings closed. Instead, their unforced errors reminded them what happens when you don’t finish strong against a team like England. India has been in this spot before. They had chances to beat England in other games but didn’t. They’ve had to fight hard to come back in those games. But now, without another strong bowler to help Bumrah, the game could be even tougher because of their mistakes.
England, led by Stokes and McCullum, loves to fight back. They don’t mind chasing big scores. The best way to win is to stop them early and put pressure on them. India had a great chance to do this in the first game of the series. They probably hope these errors didn’t cost them the test.
Still, 471 runs is a big score. India’s batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, said that losing players quickly “can happen.” However, India’s unforced errors actually gave them the best weather for bowling. As the clouds moved over Headingley, Bumrah was ready to bowl. He used the cloudy weather to his advantage, even though he’d be great anyway. The special cricket ball he used worked perfectly. The first England player, Zak Crawley, didn’t last long. Ben Duckett also should have been out easily, but another mistake happened when Jadeja, who seemed slow on the day, missed a catch.
The other bowlers weren’t as good. Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur, the third and fourth bowlers, gave up a lot of runs. Prasidh, who is new to Test cricket, kept bowling short balls when he needed to bowl harder, a type of unforced error in strategy. This made it easy for England’s batters. Thakur only bowled a few overs and wasn’t very effective. Mohammed Siraj started slow, but then bowled much better, but he wasn’t rewarded with getting players out.
Gill has said he wants India to take advantage of big moments. On this day, India made too many errors in their fielding, batting, and bowling. Bumrah was asked to bowl again near the end of the day, almost unfairly. For the ninth time in Test cricket, he got Joe Root out. In the very last over of the day, he almost got Harry Brook too, surprising him with a fast, short ball. But just as India was about to celebrate, the umpire tapped his earpiece and said it was a No-ball. Bumrah had bowled too far, another unforced error that cost them a wicket.
He had tried a bit too hard and pushed a bit too far. India could have lost control completely, but they were still ahead, just barely. That’s the kind of day it was, full of mistakes.
However, yesterday, Jasprit Bumrah achieved a historic milestone, surpassing Wasim Akram for the most test wickets by Asian bowlers.
1 – Jasprit Bumrah: 147 wickets in 60 innings
2 – Wasim Akram: 146 wickets in 55 innings
3 – Anil Kumble: 141 wickets in 67 innings
4 – Ishant Sharma: 130 wickets in 71 innings
5 – Mohammed Shami: 123 wickets in 63 innings
