England vs India: Sunil Gavaskar criticises Indian top-order's dismal display at The Oval

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar was critical of the below-par performance by the Indian batting unit for the second match straight. After winning the toss, England chose to bowl in the fourth Test match of the five-match Test series against India at The Oval. However, the Indian top-order yet again failed to capitalise its start and wickets started falling like a pile of cards for the Indian team. Despite individual half-centuries from skipper Virat Kohli and bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, the Indian side was wrapped up for 191 runs within 61.3 overs. Following the dismal show, Sunil Gavaskar had some harsh words for the star-studded Indian batting line-up.

'You may look like an idiot but you'd still be batting': Sunil Gavaskar

While speaking about the Indian top-order batsmen on the Sony Sports Network, Sunil Gavaskar said, “You see the length that is being bowled and see where the batsmen are playing. They are so far committed to the front foot, it's very difficult for them to drop their bats. They just tend to sort of go for it. If you're on the backfoot just that little bit, you have that nanosecond to drop your wrists and let the ball go”.

Opener Rohit Sharma was the first batsman to walk back to the pavilion after he was dismissed by Chris Woakes who made his comeback in this match. Rohit scored just 11 runs. On the other hand, KL Rahul scored 17 runs before getting out lbw by pacer Ollie Robinson. Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara went back after scoring a mere four runs. Pointing out Pujara’s dismissal, Gavaskar said, “You may look like an idiot but you'd still be batting. Whether you look like an idiot or look great, doesn't go down in the scorebooks. It's the number of runs you score. When you follow the ball like Pujara has been doing - he is committed to the front foot - you get yourself into trouble”. 

The five-match series is currently tied at 1-1 as the first Test match of the series at Trent Bridge ended in a draw after the final day was washed out due to rain. In the second Test match at Lord’s, India came up with a brilliant all-round performance and won the match by a mammoth 151 runs. Meanwhile, England came back strong in the third Test at Headingley by dismissing India for only 78 runs in their first innings and went on to win the match by an innings and 76 runs.

Image: AP & PTI