'I thought we left...' - Head coach Rahul Dravid analyses India's performance after loss to England in first Test

Under the leadership of Ben Stokes, England achieved a remarkable victory at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in the first Test of the current series against India. Demonstrating remarkable resilience on foreign soil, England secured a miraculous win, triumphing over the hosts by a margin of 28 runs. This is the second time when the England team have won a Test match on Indian soil after the historic triumph of winning the series in India back in 2012.

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On the other hand, Rohit Sharma led India to chase down 231 runs to seize victory and lead the series. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed as they were dismissed for 202 runs, leading to a disappointing loss. Reflecting on the defeat, India's head coach, Rahul Dravid, shared his perspective, suggesting that the team fell short by 70–80 runs. The former India batter also acknowledged the difficulty posed by the challenging pitch, which made batting a daunting task.

"I mean, [the pitch was] challenging today, and I wouldn't be so harsh to judge them [batters] on today. In fact, if anything, I thought we left probably 70 runs on the board in the first innings when conditions were pretty good to bat in on day two. I thought in those kinds of situations, we got ourselves into some good starts and we didn't really capitalize. We didn't get 100, we didn't get somebody getting a really big 100 for us. So in some ways, I think I just felt we left those 70-80 runs back in the hut in the first innings," Head Coach Dravid said in the post-match press conference. 

We probably shouldn't have been chasing 232: Rahul Dravid

Additionally, the former India skipper also went on to commend England’s vice-captain Ollie Pope's monumental innings, which significantly hindered the Indian team's progress. Notably, Pope played a scintillating innings of 196 runs from 278 deliveries, contributing to England's formidable target set for the hosts to pursue.

"We probably shouldn't have been chasing 232. Truly exceptional innings to get us to chase that amount of runs. Yeah, so I think that, to me, that [Pope's innings] really was the difference in the game. I think that's something that set us back he played a lot of high-risk shots but executed them superbly. And that's incredible, on a wicket like that 196 when nobody else got 50 was a difference in the game," Dravid said.