India surrendered meekly to a fiery English bowling line-up on the fourth day of the third Test at Headingley, Leeds, as they suffered an innings and a 76-run defeat on Saturday. India’s second innings collapse was more detrimental than its first innings 78 all-out. The visitors started the day on 215/2 but were soon blown away by Ollie Robinson‘s five-for.

Unhappy with India’s batting performance, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar let it rip on the Virat Kohli-led team. India lost seven wickets in a span of 54 wickets. Cheteshwar Pujara was the first the take the long walk back but it was Kohli’s wicket that started the collapse.

When Kohli departed for 55, India’s score read 237 and the visitors were wrapped up on 278. Ajinkya Rahane (10), Rishabh Pant (1), Mohammed Shami (6), Ishant Sharma (2), Ravindra Jadeja (30), and Mohammed Siraj (0) were dismissed in 9.3 overs.

“It was. When you have a look at what we have got at 8,9,10, and 11, we did have some rearguard action at Lord’s, where England lost the plot more than anything else. Once the top three batsmen fell, it was clear we (India) were not going to survive for too long. By any stretch of the imagination, in 54 minutes for 7 wickets to fall is a little bit hard to take,” Gavaskar said after the match.

By virtue of this win, England levelled the five-match Test series 1-1. Robinson was declared player of the match for his impeccable performance with the red cherry.

In the post-match ceremony, the Indian captain, too, was left unimpressed with his team’s batting performance and said that the top order has to fire. He also had some thought on the batting collapse and termed it as “quite bizarre”.

“It can happen in this country, batting collapses. We thought the pitch was good to bat on, coming on nicely. But the discipline forced mistakes and the pressure was relentless. Difficult to cope when you’re not scoring runs. That caused the batting order to crumble,” Kohli said.

The fourth Test which will be played in London starts on September 2.