A Report Card Of India's Defeat At Manchester

It's just getting worse and worse for India. After the ignominy of Southampton, they have yet again succumbed to a crushing defeat against England at Manchester. They now trail England 1-2 in the five-match series. Gocricket.com takes a look at how each member of the Indian team fared at Old Trafford.

Murali Vijay
It seems ages ago when Murali Vijay impressed everyone with his defiant knocks in the first two Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord's. At Manchester he scored a total of 18 runs including a duck in the first innings. He was at the receiving end of a peach of a delivery from James Anderson in the first innings and in the second, fell to Chris Woakes. His slump has come at a wrong time. Among all the specialist Indian batsmen on the tour, he has been one of the two brightest spots. With the other openers failing, he needs to get his touch back if India hope to do well in the fourth Test.

Gautam Gambhir
Questions were raised when Gambhir was selected for the England tour as a reserve opener. Those questions were put to rest when the first choice opener in Shikhar Dhawan failed. The reasons, for which he lost his place in the national side, seem to be valid even today. A batsman of his repute, on his return to international cricket after almost two years, should perform but he could muster only 22 runs in two innings. Both the times he fell to short deliveries. In the first innings, his dismissal brought back memories of the 2011 tour of England when he repeatedly was caught in the slip cordon and his second dismissal left everyone frustrated as he needlessly gloved one from Anderson to be caught by the wicketkeeper.

Cheteshwar Pujara
He was the second Indian batsmen to be out for a duck in the first dig after Stuart Broad lured him to edge one to Chris Jordan in the slips. In the second innings, he was a bit unlucky to be given out lbw as replays showed the ball from Moeen Ali was missing the leg stump. He managed 17. His technique on seaming, pacy tracks is under intense scrutiny after yet another failure.

Virat Kohli
Seems Kohli is not willing to learn and improve. People have lost count of the number of times his weakness against outside off deliveries has been exploited England bowlers. He is the designated superstar of a star-studded Indian line-up. But where is that performance? In both the innings, Anderson got the better of him. He scored a duck in the first and managed seven in the second before pushing at a delivery that went safely into the hands of Ian Bell at second slip. Someone needs to tell him that he need not go after every delivery, especially those outside off. Let better sense prevail.

Ajinkya Rahane
Smile is infectious. Replace 'smile' with 'failure' for Rahane. When everyone around him seems to be hell bent on playing loose, rash strokes, could he have avoided playing one of his own? Yes. But he couldn't. In the first innings with his team in dire straits, he gifted Chris Jordan his wicket after scoring 24 in a partnership with captain Dhoni that gave a flickering hope of a recovery. In the second, another loose shot put him on the way back to the dressing room after he had managed a single. All we can hope is that his failure at Manchester is just a one-off incident.

MS Dhoni
Dhoni's knock of 71 runs in the first innings will be counted among his best in Tests. When everything around him crumbled, he was the lone warrior before he pulled one that ended his fight. In the second, he again saved India from the ignominy of being bowled out for double figures. However, his wicketkeeping and captaincy was questionable. Not utilising bowlers effectively apart from his performance behind the stumps is not helping the team. After the low of Southampton, it was expected that he would rejig things. But, under his watch, India slipped further into the abyss. Lord's is a distant memory now for him and the Indian fans.

Ravindra Jadeja
Anderson has gained much out of his spat with India allrounder Jadeja. The Englishman has flourished. On the other hand, Jadeja's only significant contribution was trapping Anderson after being meted out a similar treatment by the pacer in India's first innings. He took one wicket in the entire match and scored four runs including a 14-ball duck in the first innings. His pairing with R Ashwin on Indian tracks is deadly. In England where Moeen Ali has trapped India in a web of spin, he has been nothing short of ordinary.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Bhuvneshwar continues to toil hard and he is reaping rewards for his efforts. He seems to be the only member of the Indian team who is aware of his limitations and is taking the most out of his abilities. He took three wickets at Manchester where England batted once. Two of those (Sam Robson and Bell) were a result of some wonderful bowling. He has lost his 'midas touch' with the bat as scores of 0 and 10 would suggest. But he cannot be expected to hide the failures of the batsmen every single time. His job is to bowl, not score runs. Unfortunately he has been forced to do the additional job as well and the effect is the dip in his intensity.

Varun Aaron
Back in the team after a gap of almost three years, Aaron impressed with his lively pace. He bowled consistently above 140 km/hr and occasionally troubled the batsmen with his bounce. The delivery with which he cleaned up Moeen Ali was one of the few moments to cherish for India from the Test. He picked 3/97 in 26 overs and made an impressive return, although straying away on occasions.

R Ashwin
Include Ashwin and things will get better was the mantra after the loss at Southampton for India. He was selected and bowled well but went wicketless even as his counterpart (Moeen) ended with four scalps. However, it was his batting that was much talked about. He put to shame the Indian top order in both the innings. In the first his 40 runs took the team past 150 runs and he followed it with an unbeaten 46 which was the highest score by any Indian batsman in the second dig.

Pankaj Singh
His painful wait for a wicket finally ended on the third day when he removed Joe Root for 77. He, again, started well but his workhorse attitude didn't translate into anything significant. On a pitch where England bowlers murdered Indian batting, his efforts at best can be summed up as below par. He bowls well but not good enough that will force the selectors to give him an extended run. Mind you – he is bowling in helpful conditions and not on lifeless subcontinent tracks. If Ishant Sharma gets fit, Pankaj, who took two wickets in the Test, will surely sit out at The Oval.