“They just went into a shell” - Ravi Shastri slams India’s timid approach on Day 4

Former India coach Ravi Shastri has claimed that India failed to bat England out of the game on Day 4 of the rescheduled fifth Test against England. 

According to the former team India coach, India's defensive approach with the bat on Day 4 gave England a chance to come back into the game. 

England are coming into this Test after three consecutive successful fourth-innings chases against New Zealand and were expected to come all guns blazing in the fourth innings against India as well. 

India started the day with a lead of 257, with Pujara and Pant batting in the middle. With seven wickets in hand, they had the opportunity to take the lead over 400 by batting at least for two complete sessions on Day 4. But unfortunately, they failed to do so and got bundled out for just 245 in the second innings, giving England a target of 378 with more than four sessions of play.

"I think it was disappointing, to say the least, because they could have batted England out of this contest," Shastri said after the day's play in Sky Cricket.

It seemed like Indian batters gifted their wickets in the first session of Day 4 despite the conditions being pretty good to bat on. Cheteshwar Pujara presented an easy catch at point. Shreyas Iyer looked clueless against the short ball once again. And Rishabh Pant departed after his half-century while playing a reverse sweep against Jack Leach. 

The Men in Blue were defensive and timid.

Usually, a team likes to score quickly after losing the entire batting unit, with the remaining batters trying to score some valuable runs at the end. But, according to Shastri, India failed to do that and looked defensive in their approach after lunch. 

"They needed to bat two sessions and I thought they were defensive, they were timid today, especially after lunch. 

"Even after they had lost those wickets, they could have taken some chances. Runs were important at that stage of the game and I thought they just went into a shell, lost those wickets too quickly, and gave enough time for England to bat today," he added. 

India took a 2-1 lead against England under Shastri, who was the head coach of the Indian team back in 2021 before the series got called off after the fourth Test due to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the Indian camp. 

"Bumrah got his tactics completely wrong today," says Kevin Pietersen.

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen criticised Jasprit Bumrah's tactics and field placements.

"I don't think Bumrah got his tactics right today at all, and I say that with the greatest deal of respect. There is no way with a reverse swinging ball that he should make it that easy for the batter," Pietersen added. 

"I hope they don't do it tomorrow morning, but for England's sake, absolutely, let them spread them as far as they want," he concluded.

England finished Day 4 with 259 for three on the board, needing 119 runs to register a historic win. At the time of writing, Joe Root was batting on 76*, with the first innings centurion Johnny Bairstow at the other end, batting on 72* from 87 balls.