'Siraj batting better than Shubman Gill'

The batting unit of Team India faced backlash on social media after yet another poor performance in a pressure situation on Day 4 of the first Test against England, resulting in a 28-run loss at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

England’s right-handed batter, Ollie Pope, made an impressive comeback for England in their second innings, scoring a remarkable 196 runs which helped the English team to reach a total of 420, setting a target of 231 for team India to chase.

The young Indian talent, Yashasvi Jaiswal, scored 15 runs before being dismissed by Tom Hartley in the 12th over, while, Shubman Gill also struggled, getting out for a two-ball duck.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma played well with a 39-run knock but was sent to the pavilion by Tom Hartley in the 18th over.

After that, India faced difficulties as the remaining batters played defensively and eventually got out for 202.

Fans expressed disappointment with the Indian batting performance through memes on social media.

Here are some of the top memes:

Indians giving wickets to debutants.#INDvsENG | #INDvsENGTest | #WTC25 pic.twitter.com/ay4rfsB7td

— Rajabets 🇮🇳👑 (@smileagainraja) January 28, 2024

Siraj batting better than prince “Gill” and spin basher “Iyer” pic.twitter.com/n9suyhvOeO

— 🔑 (@J4EGOLDBERG) January 28, 2024

Good Chances for Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer to perform as Virat Kohli is not available.

Le Gill and Iyer.😅 #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/WlLQClMAK9

— KKR Bhakt 🇮🇳 ™ (@KKRSince2011) January 28, 2024

Shreyas Iyer in last 11 innings

4 , 12 , 0 ,26 ,0 , 31 ,6 , 0, 4 ,31 ,0

Shubhman gill in last 11 innings

13 ,18 ,6 ,10 ,29 ,2 , 26 ,10 ,36, 23 , 0#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/Y6T8JJ5EhZ

— AP (@AksP009) January 28, 2024

Rohit Sharma in the post-match presentation said, “I thought 231 was chaseable but we couldn’t apply ourselves with the bat.”

Rohit Sharma credited Ollie Pope for playing a special knock in the third innings.

Reflecting on the loss, Sharma said:

“Cricket has been played over four days and it’s hard to pinpoint where it went wrong. Exceptional batting by Pope and I just witnessed one of the best knocks from the overseas batter. I thought 231 was chaseable but we couldn’t apply ourselves with the bat. We analysed what went wrong and I thought the bowlers executed the plans well but you have to give credit to Pope as it was a great knock.”

Adding that “The lower order showed the top-order that you need to show character and fight. We didn’t take our chance with the bat and I hope the guys will learn from that.”

The second Test of the five-match series will commence on Friday (February 2) in Vizag.