In India’s first innings against England in Hyderabad, Shubman Gill scored the lowest among the top seven batsmen, just 23 runs, while Captain Rohit Sharma got only one run more. Even though they played important roles on Day 1, some might consider their performance a bit disappointing. Despite this, India managed to score a high total of 421/7 by the end of Day 2, giving them a lead of 175 runs over England, who scored 246 in their first innings.
Among the top seven Indian batsmen, Shreyas Iyer scored the lowest with 35 runs. Three of them scored more than 80 runs each. If Ravichandran Ashwin hadn’t been run out due to confusion with Ravindra Jadeja, he might have added more runs to the total. Although most Indian batsmen got off to a good start in this Test, none managed to score a century.
‘Biggest culprit was Virat Kohli’s replacement at No.4': Atherton on ‘generous’ KL Rahul throwing away century#KLRahul #TeamIndia #INDvENG https://t.co/wAplIFf4sT
— HT Sports (@HTSportsNews) January 27, 2024
While India’s lead over England is significant, individual players might feel differently about their performances. Yashasvi Jaiswal missed out on a century by getting out at 80, while KL Rahul was just 14 runs short of his 9th Test century when he mistimed a shot and got caught.
Former England captain Michael Atherton criticized the Indian batsmen for missing out on opportunities, especially KL Rahul, whom he believed had a chance to score a century. He also questioned England captain Ben Stokes’ decision to use spinner Jack Leach sparingly, despite his experience and potential.
In summary, India’s batting unit is still finding its footing, and while they have a good lead in the match, individual performances could have been better, according to some observers.