India vs England | India missed third seamer at Lord's, says Gautam Gambhir

08/12/2018

Gautam Gambhir believes that one of the major reasons behind India's poor performance at Lords was the absence of a third seamer on the pitch while adding that Umesh Yadav could’ve made a difference. He also mentioned that the spinners weren't able to perform well which worked in England's favour.

After failing in the first Test, India couldn't keep up with the expectations and struggled throughout the first innings at Lord's in which they managed to put a low score of just 107 runs. The duo of Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow batted them out of the game with a partnership of 189 runs and extending their lead to 250 runs.

However, Gambhir has said that India missed the third seamer on the pitch and a risk of playing Kuldeep Yadav backfired. He also mentioned that Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami bowled brilliantly upfront but the back-up bowlers weren't good enough. R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav couldn't do anything on the damp pitch while Hardik Pandya couldn't make any big difference with his bowling and this is what worked well in England's favour and they took good advantage out of it. Gambhir felt that Umesh Yadav as the third seamer could've made a huge difference.

“The way Bairstow and Woakes played, they obviously took the game completely away from India. They would’ve missed the presence the third seamer in their line-up after the way Shami and Ishant bowled up front. India were in the game when they had England down to 89/4 in the first session,” Gambhir said to the TOI.

Gambhir also spoke largely about the batting pair, Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow, as they held the game well with their beautiful batting which showed their steady anticipation on the field.

“They both batted really well. It was the turning point of the day. They knew India had two spinners and Hardik Pandya after their lead pacers and played them out carefully,” Gambhir concluded.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all