Has mental fatigue led to India's top-order struggles in Manchester Test?

In the post-session show on JioHotstar, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said that players don't lose wickets with the kind of shots Indian players played after getting a start of 40-50 runs

Before the start of the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between India and England, the biggest question everyone had was how the Indian batters would perform in English conditions in the absence of senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. But the Indian team answered the doubts in style, scoring big runs in the first two matches. By the time the second Test ended, all the big names in the Indian top order—Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, K L Rahul, and Rishabh Pant—had added centuries to their name. 

 

However, the struggles started in the third Test at Lord’s, where the top order failed completely. It was not just one bad match, as the story continued in the fourth Test in Manchester as well. On the first day of the Test today, India, despite a great start, lost three quick wickets, allowing England to make a comeback. Indian skipper Gill mentioned mental fatigue in long series, and it was clearly on display when he batted in Manchester, as he completely misjudged an inswinger from Stokes and was LBW on just 12.

 

 

Now the question is: Has the mental fatigue of a long Test series taken a toll on the Indian top order, resulting in their failure? Take a look.

How Indian top order collapsed at Manchester

There is a saying in Test cricket that if you are dismissed after scoring just 10 or 12 runs, it was just a bad day. But if you lose your wicket in an ordinary manner after crossing the 30-run mark, something is going wrong in the mindset of the batter.

 

In Manchester, Indian openers K L Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave India a brilliant start, adding 94 runs for the first wicket. But just when it looked like the duo could set the stage for a big total for India, Rahul edged an outside-off delivery to the slips off Chris Woakes on 46, just four short of his half-century. Jaiswal did manage to cross the fifty-run mark but lost his wicket with another loose shot off Liam Dawson in the slips.

 

The biggest shocker was the wicket of Shubman Gill, who has more than 600 runs in the series. But it won’t be exaggerating to say that it was a brain-fade moment when he completely misjudged an inswinger from Stokes and was LBW on just 12.

Expert show concerns

In the post-session show on JioHotstar, former Indian cricketer-turned-expert Sanjay Manjrekar said that players don’t lose wickets with the kind of shots Indian players played after getting a start of 40–50 runs. He said that the long series is taking a toll on Indian players, as batters like Jaiswal, Rahul and Gill have proved they are much better batters than how they played in the first two sessions on Day 1 of the Manchester Test.

What Gill said in pre-match press conference

Indian skipper Shubman Gill, in the pre-match press conference ahead of the Manchester Test, while talking about his captaincy stint in England, said that the role has been more mentally exhausting than physically demanding. He explained that unlike playing as a regular member of the team—where one waits for the ball or a moment of action—captaincy requires constant thinking and involvement. According to him, the mental engagement has been far greater, even though the physical workload has felt lighter compared to his usual playing duties.