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KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal face heat for 'lapses, mental fatigue' as slip-ups cost India: Where is the commitment?
Sanjay Manjrekar blamed the dismissals on mental lapses, suggesting India let a strong position slip.
In just one session, England wrested back control on Day 1 of the fourth Test after a solid 94-run opening stand between KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal. The hosts bounced back in the second session, quickly removing both set batters. Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar blamed the dismissals on mental lapses, suggesting India let a strong position slip.
Put to bat first after India lost the toss for the fourth time in the series and 14th consecutive time in international cricket, Rahul and Jaiswal made the most of a clueless bowling display from England, reaching 78 for no loss at Lunch.
However, the home team wriggled out with Chris Woakes getting the breakthrough right at the start of the second session, when Rahul edged one to Zak Crawley. Shortly after, Jaiswal's innings, which included his 1,000th run against England, was ended by Liam Dawson, who had been playing his first Test match since 2017, to put India at 120-2.
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Speaking to JioStar at Tea break, Manjrekar blasted the two openers, questioning their commitment and mental stamina.
“When you look at the overall pie, you can see how wonderfully this Test match is going. There's a promise of another intriguing test match. You saw the first session, an important one, go to India and then England, making that second session their own. We saw two set batters get out - KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal. You wonder. I don't know whether I'm reading too much into it, whether it's mental fatigue from the long series. These are guys who've got runs and somebody, you know. These aren't batters who will get a 50 and let the advantage go. They didn't quite dig in and get a big 100. Has that got something to do with, I thought, you know, mental stamina, the reserves that you need? They have played so well until now to drop another kind of level of, you know, commitment and grind, whether they have it in there,” he said.
England had picked up a third wicket in the afternoon session, dismissing India captain Shubman Gill, the top run scorer so far in the series. He had only 12 on the board before being trapped leg before wicket by England captain Ben Stokes, leaving India on 140-3.
