Mumbai, Nov 3 (IANS): Anil Kumble, the legendary leg-spinner of India and former head coach, has expressed serious concerns about the batting struggles of the team in their 3-0 Test series loss to New Zealand.
He highlighted that the primary challenge for the Rohit Sharma-led side is coming to terms with the fact that there is a problem to be resolved in the batting department. Chasing 147 for a win at the Wankhede Stadium, India were bowled out for 121, as they slumped to being clean swept in a Test series at home for the first time since 1999/2000.
Rishabh Pant’s counterattacking 57-ball 64 being the only notable effort in another sorry batting performance from the hosts’. It didn’t also help India that captain Rohit Sharma (91 runs in six innings) and Virat Kohli (93 runs in six innings) couldn’t get big runs in the series, as New Zealand exposed India’s frailties in batting against spin in spin-friendly conditions.
"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.
"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 recognize that there is indeed a serious issue that needs to be addressed," said Kumble on JioCinema and Sports18.
Saba Karim, the former India wicketkeeper-batter and selector, has urged the Indian team to go back to the drawing board and see where they went wrong with the bat against New Zealand.
"If you look at the three Test matches—they've gotten over in two to three days; there was rain in Bengaluru due to which the game ended on the fifth day. These are our conditions, and we should have prepared them in a way that we could’ve played at least three or four sessions.
"This is a big indication that Indian batting has been a failure throughout the series. When you prepare a wicket like this, you can’t think that only you will win the toss and bat first; you need to be prepared for all scenarios. I think the Indian team is at a stage where they really need to think hard and go back to the drawing board.
"There were standout performances with the ball, with Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja stepping up, but batting is equally important. I believe that across the three matches, the Indian batters were in a hurry to put runs on the board, and here that was not really necessary."
Kumble signed off by appreciating Glenn Phillips standing up to support Ajaz Patel from the other end to dish out a great defence of 147 on day three of third Test. "We knew that spin would play a major role in New Zealand's innings as well. Ajaz Patel was expected to be the danger man for India, and he certainly was.
"But what was surprising—and more important for New Zealand—was the support from the bowler at the other end, Glenn Phillips. I thought he bowled very well, sticking to disciplined areas.
"Of course, they were under pressure when Rishabh Pant was at the crease, but outside of that, New Zealand seemed confident that if they could dismiss Pant, they'd have a strong chance. And that's exactly how it played out.'