We needed a bit more of a team performance – Rahul Dravid

After a valiant fight for four staggering days, Team India emerged victorious against England as they clinched a 107-run win in the second Test. Chasing 399, the visitors were skittled out for 292 despite collective shards of resilience from the English batters.

India’s head coach, Rahul Dravid talked at length in the post-match presser, highlighting the positives from the game. He focused on the transition that India is going through and considering what could have been a better finish, Dravid underlined the importance of the youth mastering the ropes while also heaping praises on individual performances.

Talking at the post-match presser, Dravid said, “Yashasvi's brilliant innings, 209 in that first innings. And then Bumrah's spell really on the first two days kept us, or got us ahead by 140 [runs]. And then, we needed a bit more of a team performance over the next days three and four to get us over the line.”

He continued, “So, yeah, quite pleased considering, going behind in the last Test match and then losing a few players. Happy we were able to bounce back, but we recognise it's gonna be a fantastic series and it's gonna be some tough cricket played over the next three games."

Deep diving into the game, Dravid added, “I don't think there was any stage in the game where we felt we could actually force the play. As soon as we thought we could force the play with our 80-run partnership [with Iyer and Gill], we lost a couple of wickets.”

He continued, “Then we settled in and got another partnership. If we had got to tea at 250 for 4 instead of 230 for 6, we were 210 for 4 I think, and you just start getting comfortable and then you lose a couple of wickets and you're thinking, 'oh'.”

The former Indian captain concluded by saying, “So I don't think we were in any position at any stage in this game to ever think about putting pressure back on the opposition. So I think more than that [forcing the play], I think after we lost the first couple of wickets, we soaked the pressure really well to get that partnership, but we couldn't just capitalise on it enough. And then the same thing happened when we got another 80-partnership [between Gill and Axar Patel]. If we had made that 120 or 130, then I'm sure we would have thought about it differently."