Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif gave a brutal assessment of the team’s performance in their 0-2 series sweep to South Africa at home. With the batting hurting Team India the most, Kaif opined that the ones running the team seem clueless about what they are doing wrong.
The Proteas, who registered their first Test series victory on Indian soil since 2000, exposed the hosts across departments. While the bowling also struggled, Gautam Gambhir’s boys breached the 200-run mark only once in the series, and Yashasvi Jaiswal was the only Indian top-order batter to score a fifty. The 408-run defeat in Guwahati proved to be their heaviest in the format in terms of runs.
When asked what has gone wrong for India, Mohammad Kaif argued that the management is confused about what pitches to dish out. The 44-year-old further pointed out that the think tank phased out the seniors, but the youngsters are not getting consistent chances either. He elaborated in the latest video on his YouTube channel:
“There is no simple answer for this. There are 2-3 answers for this and everyone knows it. I feel the ones who are running the team they don’t know what is going wrong. The ones from the outside know what is wrong. When India lost the first Test on a turning track, the strategy was changed only after one match. They played on a better track in Guwahati where there was a bit of a grass. This short-term planning is hurting us. Senior players are absent. They told Ravichandran Ashwin that we won’t be able to find a place for you in the eleven, so he retired.
“Hardly any batter could find their feet in India against Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Washington Sundar was brought but he is not even half the bowler of what they were. Seniors were removed but they are not able to compensate for them. Even the new players are not being given consistent chances. So, there is not one thing to pinpoint here. It is a mix of several things going wrong.”
Ravindra Jadeja, who has an excellent record at home, was underwhelming by his standards, picking up only 10 wickets in four innings. South Africa off-spinner Simon Harmer comprehensively outbowled the all-rounder to finish with 17 scalps at 8.94 apiece.
“Virat Kohli had said the right thing” – Mohammad Kaif backs India star’s claim on Test centers
With Virat Kohli once claiming that India needed only specific Test centers, Mohammad Kaif has backed the opinion amid the team management’s lack of clarity on the conditions. He went on to question the knee-jerk decision of shifting from a turning track in Kolkata to a sporting wicket in Guwahati, adding:
“The pitch at Guwahati was indeed good. They should draw a line on such a pitch. Last year, they lost to New Zealand in Bengaluru, where the pitch had some moisture in it. They lost the next two Tests on turning wickets. Virat Kohli had said the right thing – there should be specific Test centres and they need to decide what type of conditions to play on. We don’t know what pitches to play on, that’s where we are getting exposed. From a turning track, we went to a sporting wicket. Why? Because we don’t know which conditions we can win on. If you lose on a turning wicket, you should say, ‘we will win the next game on a turner itself’. We are shifting from conditions overnight and there is no fixed planning whatsoever.”
Kaif continued that the hosts should have prioritised Test cricket by not keeping their first-choice players for the T20I series in Australia. He said:
“Then comes the players’ performance. The batters are not able to tackle the bounce generated by Marco Jansen. We won in SENA countries, Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal made India win. KL Rahul was there too. Also, Test matches need to be given priority and preparations must be done accordingly. Australia left their players to prepare for the Ashes. Despite the commercial benefit deriving from India’s matches, they didn’t compromise on Test matches.
“There is no bigger example than Australia. They told their players to take a break and practice. Preparations take time and players are usually told to keep aside white-ball matches for prepare for Tests. Players should also know what conditions to expect and practice happens as per that. If we look at South Africa, they were playing in Pakistan for a month and a half. When New Zealand beat us, they were coming off from a tour of Sri Lanka. So, other teams are planning well. But there is short-term planning in India as they were playing in bouncy pitches in Australia and now turning tracks here. There is plenty of mismatch. We are not giving Test matches due priority.”
The two sides will turn their attention to the three-match ODI series, beginning on November 30.
Edited by Srinjoy Sanyal
