ENG vs IND 2025: ‘We haven’t been the sharpest’ – R Ashwin decodes India’s shortcomings in Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

Ravichandran Ashwin opined that lack of game awareness has cost India in the ongoing five-match Test series against England. However, he believes that Shubman Gill will only improve as a captain as he gets more experience.

India are staring at a 1-3 series defeat, despite playing some impressive cricket during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against a strong England side. Shubman had a massive challenge in front of him after stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from the longest format in the lead-up to the series. However, he had a spectacular series with the bat and also motivated the youngsters in his side to fight fire with fire against all odds.

“Why India are not ahead in this series and England are, is only because of our lack of game awareness and in many ways our tactical acumen on the field and off it as well. We haven’t been the sharpest. I think Shubman Gill is going to get better as a captain and will learn,” Ashwin said on ‘Ash ki Baat’.

Ashwin also felt that Shubman was guilty of not bringing his spinners on at the opportune moment. The former India cricketer said that Harry Brook’s destructive approach could have been countered by using a spinner.

“Sometimes as a captain when you think you can play spin well, you will not bring on the spinner. And when you miss the moment to bring the spinner in the right situation, it then becomes a defensive option. When Harry Brook started taking it on, you could have bowled a spinner from one end and choked him. Spin should have come fast and this trick was missed in the last game as well,” he added.

Brook went on to score 111 off 98 balls, taking the fast bowlers to the cleaners. His partnership of 195 runs off 211 deliveries with Joe Root changed the complexion of the game. Root scored his 39th Test century to get England into a strong position.

They find themselves in this hole because bowling to build pressure is a lost art: Ashwin

India had set England a target of 374 to chase down in the fourth innings. Ashwin said that the ability to build pressure on the batters by setting correct fields and bowling defensively has been missing and that has hurt India’ chances.

“Such a big score on this pitch, it is a lot of runs. They find themselves in this hole because bowling to build pressure is a lost art. It’s not only for India, many teams are struggling. This is called defensive pressure building. Because of T20, we just look to take wickets. If you only bowl for wickets, you will give many runs. Wickets fall when you build pressure and a rhythm. Prasidh got the wicket because he got into a good rhythm and Siraj bowled a maiden over. We are not setting the right fields and bowling defensively at the right time,” he explained.

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