Difficult to take’: Sunil Gavaskar astounded as India lose seven wickets inside 54 minutes to experience devastating loss

August 29, 2021

India’s hope of staging a comeback were dashed by the England pacers as the hosts ran riot with the red cherry on Day 4 of the third Test at Headingley in Leeds on Saturday.
Resuming their second innings from 215/2, India were bundled for 278 runs to suffer a humiliating defeat by an innings and 76 runs at Headingley as England levelled the five-match series 1-1.
It was a disappointing performance by the Indian batsmen as the visitors endured yet another batting collapse in the Leeds encounter.
India had been bundled out for a paltry 78 in their first innings but the Virat Kohli-led side made a strong comeback on Day 3 as they posted 215 runs on the board while losing only 2 wickets. However, England pacers once again stole the show on Day 4.
Cheteshwar Pujara (91) and Kohli resumed India’s second innings on Day 4 and both were sent back early in the opening session by Ollie Robinson, who picked up a fifer. While Pujara failed to add anything to his overnight score of 91, Kohli scored 55.
India were 237/4 when Kohli departed with the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja yet to come.
However, India lost seven wickets inside just 54 minutes starting from Kohli’s dismissal to lose the Test match in the very first session on Day 4. It took England just 9.3 overs on Day 4 to wrap up India’s innings.
The poor show by the Indian batsmen didn’t go down well with Gavaskar, who was left startled as India lost seven wickets in less than an hour.

“It was. When you have a look at what we have got at 8,9,10, and 11, we did have some rearguard action at Lord’s, where England lost the plot more than anything else. Once the top three batsmen fell, it was clear we (India) were not going to survive for too long. By any stretch of the imagination, in 54 minutes for 7 wickets to fall is a little bit hard to take,” Gavaskar said on Sony Sports post the match.
India will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways when they take on Joe Root & Co. in the penultimate fourth Test of the five-match series at the Kennington Oval in London starting from September 02 (Thursday).