England vs India 2018, 5th test: How India let the match slip away

Despite the series being already decided there was a lot of buzz about the last Test match of the ongoing England-India series. Maybe this is because it was Cook's last test and the fact that Indian bowlers bowled so well on day 1. But all the good work done on the first day was allowed to vanish by some strangely defensive tactics and some loose bowling. Let's look at some of the main reasons how India let the match to slip away.

Loose bowling and loose tactics

Kohli's tactics are questionable

Surprisingly Kohli and Co. were on the field with defensive tactics. England's overnight score was 198/7, despite that India made the England batsmen feel easy by not setting an aggressive field. Kohli constantly kept men back in the offside which allowed the batsmen to keep rotating the strike. Even when Broad walked in after the wicket of Rashid there was a fielder back, allowing him to get off the mark easily.

Indian bowlers were lacking the fire that they had in the last session of the day 1. They bowled some looseners to Rashid and Buttler at the start of day 2 and conceded boundaries too often. The dangerous line and length that was there on day 1 were completely missing on day 2.

Yes, they continued to pass the outside edge but it wasn't consistent and as a result, England's last three wickets piled on 151 runs. India's inability to get rid of the tail early has cost them matches in the series and I'm afraid this could be another one. Buttler along with Broad and Rashid batted brilliantly and took England's score from 198/7 on day 1 to 332.

Openers struggle again

Dhawan's struggle continues.

After bowlers allowed England to reach 332, India required to calm things down by a strong start. But it wasn't to be. As has been the story in the series so far, Indian openers failed to give a good start. Dhawan departed early only after facing 6 balls. He was trapped in front by Stuart Broad.

Indian batsmen not cashing in on good starts

The big wicket of the day was Virat Kohli for England

After Dhawan got out early, KL Rahul and Pujara steadied the ship. Rahul looked to be in a good touch and hit some eye-catching boundaries. But after facing 53 balls and scoring 37 runs he was bowled by Sam Curran, which is being called as a Wasim Akram like delivery.

Now it was Kohli-Pujara partnership in the crease. They were strong on the defense and both looked ready to play a marathon innings until a set Pujara played a pretty loose shot given his standards and got out to Anderson caught behind. Soon Rahane edged one to slip off the bowling of Anderson on a score of 0.

Debutant Hanuma Vihari walked in possibly the toughest time to bat when Broad and Anderson were on fire. He survived a couple of lbw shouts. The final big blow to the Indian team was the wicket of Kohli.

Kohli survived a fine spell of Anderson and scored 49 runs; everyone was expecting another masterclass innings from the man but Stokes got his outside edge and Root took the catch at the slips. Pant looked clueless again and departed soon. Now India is reeling at 174/6 at the end of day 2. It's up to debutant Vihari and comeback-man Jadeja to get India closer to the England total.

Some of the Indian batsmen got the starts they wanted and after looking set they got out. Now one can only hope that Indian tail-enders can do the same that England's tail had done. But someone has to play a Buttler-like innings. Maybe it's a golden opportunity for the debutant Vihari to shine and silence all the talks of him being selected ahead of Karun Nair.