Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that England side underestimated the Indian cricket team and they paid price after the tourists won the fourth Test by 157 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match Test series with the final Test scheduled on September 10 in Manchester.
He was further critical of the England cricket team and English media for talking and thinking more about the upcoming Ashes 2021-22 in Australia instead of concentrating on the present challenge from Team India and it cost them dearly in the ongoing Test series on their own home.
As England can only draw the series if they win the fifth and final Test against India, the legendary Indian batsman said Joe Root and his team will be under pressure as the tourists are heading into the series decider in Manchester with a 2-1 psychological advantage.
Gavaskar told Aaj Tak: “Pressure will be on Root in the fifth Test at Manchester because India will be heading into that match with a 2-1 psychological advantage. Another big mistake of the England team and English media was that they were talking about the Ashes series and how they want to play in that series. They should have focused on the present challenge from India instead. England underestimated the Indian team, and it eventually cost them dearly in the series as they cannot win the series now.”
The 72-year-old also credited the significant contributions from Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah to put India in a match-winning situation and gave huge confidence to the bowlers to finish the job for the tourists against England at The Oval on Monday.
He said, “If India had made only 380 runs in their second innings, England would have had to chase a score of around 280. That would have meant less pressure on them as compared to chasing 368.”
Gavaskar signed off by saying, “So those useful contributions from the tail were very crucial. First, we saw in Lords and now in this Test match. When bowlers score some runs in the lower order, then their confidence usually goes up even when they come back to bowl in the following innings. I am very delighted that India won a Test match at Oval after 50 years.”
