IND vs ENG 2021: India’s last 3 innings defeats

Cricket is a game of great uncertainties and Indian fans will hope their team does something extraordinary to turn the tables around in the ongoing Headingley Test.

Realistically, staging a comeback after conceding a 354-run first-innings lead will be no short of a miracle, especially if we take India’s poor batting numbers in England into consideration.

Five out of India’s last seven innings defeats have come in England. India’s batting average of 23.78 is the lowest for any touring team in England since 2011. Even the West Indies have averaged 25 in England during the said timeframe.

India will have to produce one of their most incredible overseas performances to avert an innings defeat. While we hope for a strong Indian comeback to ensure a great Test, let’s look at India’s last three innings defeats. Not surprisingly, all of them came in England.

#3 2018: England crush India at Lord’s

After a close defeat in the first Test in Birmingham, Lord’s was India’s next assignment. A greenish surface awaited them, and the visitors blundered by picking Kuldeep Yadav as the second spinner. Rain abandoned the first day’s play. Sent in to bat, India were bowled out for 107 in the first innings courtesy of James Anderson’s five-for.

England lost half their side for 131 before Chris Woakes came to the party and slammed his maiden Test hundred. Woakes would also go on to pick up four wickets in the Test.

Staring at a big deficit, India folded for 130 in the second innings, this time Anderson and Stuart Broad picking four wickets each.

Brief scores

India 107 (James Anderson 5/20) & 130 (James Anderson 4/23, Stuart Broad 4/44) lost to England 396 for 7 dec (Jonny Bairstow 93, Chris Woakes 137*, Sam Curran 40; Mohammed Shami 3/96, Hardik Pandya 3/66) by an innings and 159 runs

#2 2014: India’s Oval humiliation

Almost a month before the Oval Test, India had gone one up in the series by securing a famous win at Lord’s. Two defeats later, they returned to London, hoping to make it 2-2. Their hopes were thwarted in the first session of the Test when the English pacers reduced them to 43 for five at Lunch. Skipper MS Dhoni’s lone hand took India to 148, one less than what Joe Root would score.

Joe Root’s unbeaten 149 was an innings of class and authority as he piled on the runs, striking at over 90. England managed a 338-run lead in the first innings. India didn’t bother the English bowlers much, folding for 94 in the second innings and suffering back-to-back innings defeats.

This remains India’s worst defeat since Lord’s 1974.

Brief scores

India 148 (MS Dhoni 82; Chris Jordan 3/32, Chris Woakes 3/30) & 94 (Chris Jordan 4/18) lost to England 486 (Alastair Cook 79, Gary Ballance 64, Joe Root 149*, Jos Buttler 45; Ishant Sharma 4/96, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/72) by an innings and 244 runs

#1 2014: Gray skies and Stuart Broad bring down India in Manchester

India were brave enough to elect to bat under gray skies. Anderson and Broad brought them to 8 for four in the sixth over. Skipper MS Dhoni helped them to 152, which wouldn’t be enough against a good English batting line-up that managed a 215-run lead.

India folded for 161 in the second innings, suffering their first innings defeat in two-and-a-half years.

Brief scores

India 152 (MS Dhoni 71, Ravichandran Ashwin 40; James Anderson 3/46, Stuart Broad 6/25) & 161 (Ravichandran Ashwin 46*; Moeen Ali 4/39) lost to England 367 (Ian Bell 58, Joe Root 77, Jos Buttler 70; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/75, Varun Aaron 3/97) by an innings and 54 runs