New Delhi:
The legendary leg-spinner and former Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team, Anil Kumble, feels that the time has come for the current side to openly accept that there is indeed a problem with the side’s batting performances of late, which has become a cause for concern as the World Test Championship comes down to the final stages.
Kumble was not pleased with the performance shown by the Indian batting unit, who failed to chase down a target of 147 in the spin-friendly conditions in Mumbai as New Zealand went on to whitewash India to secure a 3-0 series win on Indian soil, a first since 1999/2000.
Rishabh Pant was the only batter with a good score, as he scored 64 runs while the others crumbled to showcase a sorry batting display at home yet again. Senior stars like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have also come under fire for their lack of runs with the bat despite playing at home and under spin-friendly conditions.
Kumble suggested that the batting collapses seen during the New Zealand series have happened many times, and a significant change is yet to be seen. He also suggested that it was time that the team stepped up and admitted that there were indeed concerns with the bat.
“This has consistently happened over the last three Test matches. Whenever the spinners come on, there hasn’t been a noticeable improvement from one game to the next. A couple of players have made certain adjustments, which has helped in the batting lineup, but collectively, as a batting unit, they haven’t been able to avoid those collapses,” Kumble .
“This has happened far too often in a single session, which is a concern. For this lineup to say, ‘There’s nothing wrong’ — I think there’s something seriously wrong here. The most challenging part is accepting that there’s a problem. I’m sure that when this Indian team sits down to introspect, they’ll recognise that there is indeed a serious issue that needs to be addressed,” he added.
Indian batters have come under the scanner for their frailties when playing against spinners. Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel wreaked havoc in the series to ensure that the Indian batters were unable to make much of an impact, which came as a surprise, considering that India is historically known to be prolific players of spin.
