Seven wickets to fall in 54 minutes is hard to take by any stretch of the imagination: Sunil Gavaskar

Opening up after India’s humiliating defeat by an innings and 76 runs against England in the third Test at Headingley, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar said that losing seven wickets inside an hour is “a little hard to take”.

India went into the fourth day of the game being 139 runs behind England’s tally, however, they suffered their second collapse in as many innings, as they went down from 215/2 to 278 all-out, eventually allowing England to level the series after they lost the previous Test at Lord’s quite convincingly.

“We did have some rearguard action at Lord’s when I think England lost the plot more than anything else. Once those top three wickets fell, it was clear they were not going to be able to survive for too long. But yes, for seven wickets to fall in 54 minutes is, by any stretch of the imagination, a little hard to take,” Gavaskar said on Sony after the match.

We didn’t make good decisions as a batting side: Virat Kohli

Speaking after the team’s loss, skipper Virat Kohli admitted that India went down due to the scoreboard pressure while he also stated that the batsmen did not tackle the England bowlers on the fourth morning in the way they should have.

“It’s down to scoreboard pressure. We knew we were up against it when we were out for 80 and the opposition put up a big score. We put up crucial partnerships and saw the day through, but the pressure from the English bowlers was brilliant this morning and we didn’t respond well,” Kohli said.

“Batting collapses can happen in this country, the pitch was good to bat on, but their discipline with the ball forced us to make a few mistakes, and it was difficult to deal with spells where we weren’t getting runs. We didn’t make good decisions as a batting side. The pitch looked good to bat on, and when England batted it hadn’t changed much, so they had a lot more intent with the bat, made better decisions. They were the deserving side to win, to be honest,” he added.