India's tryst with fourth-innings collapses in 2018

A visibly distraught Virat Kohli after getting out at Southampton
A visibly distraught Virat Kohli after getting out at Southampton

Great teams squash the visiting sides with disdain at home but they also win in adverse conditions against the same opponent. The year 2018 was supposed to be the year India finally shrugged off their poor traveller's tag and truly emerge as the Test side of the generation.

They had many things going for them that lent weight to the expectations- in Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, they've developed a world-class pace attack that could consistently take 20 wickets and of course they had Virat Kohli.

But great teams also seize crucial moments that prove pivotal in the grand narrative of the game; India didn't, neither in South Africa nor in England, and considering India's abysmal record while chasing in the fourth innings (only once have India chased a target in excess of 200 since 2000 in Adelaide 2003), the inability to cling onto crucial moments proved catastrophic.

Like in the past, there was always a sense of inevitability every time Indian bowlers reduce the opposition batting side for not many, that they allow the lower middle-order to make up for the mess and decisively sway the advantage away or every time India's batting looks set for a match-defining lead only to squander it in minutes of madness.

Here's a look at India's tryst with fourth-innings collapses in 2018.


#4 England vs India, Edgbaston 2018

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Ben Stokes during his incisive spell of bowling at Edgbaston

After Virat Kohli's 'poetic violence' with Jamie Anderson that had resulted in India's captain scoring his first hundred on English soil (149) and taking his side from a precarious situation of 5-100 to 274, 13 runs adrift of England's first innings score of 287, India's bowlers reduced England to 7-86 in the third innings of the game when 20-year-old Sam Curran walked out.

Curran rode his luck initially (dropped by Shikhar Dhawan at 13) before launching a scintillating assault on the Indian bowlers to take England's lead to a decisive 194.

India's chase was always going to be defined by how Virat Kohli fared, and the Indian captain, despite carnage on the other end held on to his own to score a fighting 51 before Stokes' trapped him leg-before-wicket on the fourth morning to essentially India's hopes.

Hardik Pandya stuck around to play some delightful shots but to little effect as India's top-order once again crumbled setting the cornerstone of yet another overseas defeat.

#3 South Africa vs India, Cape Town, 2018

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South Africa celebrate after getting Virat Kohli

On a green seamer, India, courtesy Bhuvneshwar Kumar had reduced South Africa to 3-12 on the first morning of the Newlands Test before South Africa's middle-order led by AB de Villiers (65) cashed-in on India's bowler's inconsistency and inability to take advantage of the conditions to post a competitive 287 in the first innings.

India's batsmen including Virat Kohli (5) hardly showed up as the quartet of Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Kagiso Rabada reduced the Men in Blue to 7-92 before Hardik Pandya's baptism with fire (95) took them of what looked like well nigh impossible at one stage, the 200-run mark.

Trailing by 78 runs after the first innings, Indian bowlers spearheaded by debutant Jasprit Bumrah (3-39) and Mohammed Shami (3-28) brought the tourists back into the game as they bowled South Africa out for 130 leaving their team 207 runs to win in the fourth innings.

But, yet again, India's long-standing fourth-innings woes emerged into the spotlight as they were bowled out for 135 with R Ashwin (37) finishing as the top-scorer- a testimony to recurring batting issues.

#2 South Africa vs India, Centurion, 2018

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Pujara was run-out twice at Centurion

Trailing 0-1 in the series, one expected India's batsmen to step-up on the driest of the pitches that South Africa could offer; the Supersport Park, Centurion. But for starters what did they do, they didn't recall Ajinkya Rahane and instead dropped their best player of the Cape Town Test - Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

South Africa batted first and on a beautiful batting track against an attack missing its best bowler from the previous game piled on 335 thanks to Aiden Markram's 94 and Hashim Amla's gritty 82.

In reply, India scored 307 all out, but that does not tell the complete story of their innings. Out of 307, Virat Kohli scored 153 with the next best contribution coming from the bat of Murali Vijay (46). Hardik Pandya's disgraceful run-out came against run-of-play when he and Virat had put on 45 runs and were looking set for a match-defining partnership was a key moment in India's innings as Kohli fell deprived of support from the other end.

Mohammed Shami (4-49) and Jasprit Bumrah (3-70) kept the Proteas to 258 all-out in the second innings to set India 286 runs to win and level the 3-match series,

India's fourth innings was summed up by Cheteshwar Pujara's second run-out of the game as debutant Lungisani Ngidi claimed 6-39 including the price wicket of Virat Kohli (5) to bowl the visitors out for an abysmal 151; 135 runs adrift of the target.

#1 England vs India, Southampton, 2018

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England rally around Moeen Ali after he gets Kohli

India's inability of cashing on crucial moments have cost them a plethora of Test matches in the past; it happened again at Southampton. At 5-86, Mohammad Shami has just pinned Ben Stokes in front of the wicket. England, after electing to bat first have been reduced to 6-86 in an hour into the afternoon session. In walked 20-year-old Sam Curran in a seemingly same situation that he'd come out at Edgbaston; that time England was 7-87 and staring down the barrel.

Curran bailed England out at Edgbaston, he did an encore at Southampton. In a low-scoring game, the 20-year-old looked most the assured of English batsmen to take his side from the dumps to a competitive 246 in the first innings.

India in reply, was at 3-140, with Pujara and Kohli set, the Indians looked primed for a series-levelling lead only to squander it to Moeen Ali, who claimed nine wickets in the match. At 8-195, it looked as if England will take the lead but thanks to Pujara's (132) innings of defiance, India managed to nudge past England.

But the opportunity of salvaging a big lead was lost and with India's abysmal record while chasing, it was always going to be catch-up cricket once England swelled their lead past 200.

And India proved that with aplomb yet again with an insipid chase (184) in the final innings. On a track where Ashwin failed to create an impact on the third day, Moeen Ali was relentless and despite Kohli and Rahane's rearguard action, Ali bowled England to a 60-run win to seal the series and end India's dream, again.

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Edited by Vignesh Ananthasubramanian