Many pundits were believing in India winning the first cycle of WTC. But India was in a sense outplayed by the Kiwis. Where did India go wrong or what might be the reason for their loss?
The reasons written here are solely my views and might vary from person to person
1. Cheteshwar Pujara's form of late has been very poor in terms of his average. He averages 29.8 in the WTC cycle which by far is not in his standards. Test cricket is all about grit and patience but the ability to rotate strike is also very important. He plays proper test cricket no doubt but runs are ultimate and they define you and not the way you play.
Lack of proper backup for him. In any team, there needs to be someone fighting for places so that they perform to the best of their ability. In this case, there seems to be no backup to Pujara. Even though Pujara has many years left in him if he feels someone is back fighting for his spot will put more competitiveness in him.
2.Playing to the Conditions.
India had announced the squad a day before the test. But when they got to know about the weather for the next 5 days they could have made a change according to the condition. Many would argue that India played their best XI which even I agree but it does not work all day. Let's take England or Australia they mainly operate with pace in their home conditions with a lone spinner. But when they travel to India it changes.
They play 2 spinners which are not at all their strong link. Why do they do that then?
Play according to conditions is the formula. Jadeja is an excellent allrounder and is ranked no1 but he was under bowled by Kohli. If we play to our strength then why not give Jadeja more overs than he bowled. The bulk of the bowling was done by the Indian trio and rotated them regularly. Had we played one more seamer story would have been different.
3.Batting depth.
India has a problem from the past batting deep. In today's time, this change needs to adapt very quickly. Look at other countries like Australia, NZ their lower order is capable of hanging and scoring runs which India lacks.
As you mentiond one extra pacer would have been changed the game to our side. Still with 3 Pacers in hand they managed well to restrict the blackcaps with 32 lead.
ReplyDeleteComing to the batting side pujara is a solid man for test but still some other players are failed to step up and also they should have considered some experienced players to open along with hitman or by changing the batting order.