Published 11:59 IST, January 5th 2025
Questions Raised Around Indian Cricket Team As Flop Show Leads To India Losing Border Gavaskar Trophy After 10 Years
As the Indian team put up a flop show in the 3-1 loss against Australia in the BGT, questions need to be asked about the player performances and the management.
- SportFit
- 4 min read
India's tour of Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy has been a complete disaster from player performances to coaching. India came into the series against Australia off a record breaking loss against New Zealand at home. In the series against New Zealand, India were whitewashed 3-0 in the first time in their history after a massive batting failure. These issues of the Indian cricket team continued as they travelled to Australia for the five match test series.
India Collapse Against Mighty Australia In BGT
India faced a massive collapse in their five match test series against Australia. India wont the first test against Australia in Perth, following India's Perth win, it has all been Australia throughout the series as they dominated the Indian side.
India faced a batting failure in almost every inning of the series with questions being asked of senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who had a dismal series.
With six of the completed innings yielding less than 200 runs, one doesn't need a soothsayer to tell what went wrong on the tour.
Regular skipper Rohit Sharma and batting talisman Virat Kohli flopped with technical issues troubling them throughout the season.
Jaiswal (391 runs) was the top-scorer despite three ducks followed by rookie Nitish Kumar Reddy (298 runs), KL Rahul (276 runs) and Pant (255 runs).
As much as one wants to take a nuanced view of Rohit and Kohli's poor form but it is undeniable that both veterans are finding it increasingly difficult to stem the rot that has set in their batting.
There are a few good youngsters in the fringes and the new World Test Championship cycle would demand that they be given a chance to develop over time.
While a tough call on Kohli and Rohit is awaited, the BCCI brass also needs to seriously look at whether coach Gautam Gambhir is the right man to be in-charge across formats.
Under Gambhir, India have lost six Tests out of 10 during the season going by apart from being defeated in an ODI series in Sri Lanka.
Gambhir Needs To Be Held Accountable For Dismal Performance
If Kohli and Rohit are held accountable, Gambhir can't be let off merely because the team is in transition.
The head coach's head-strong approach is an pen secret and it is not earning him too many friends in the dressing room.
Ravichandran Ashwin's retirement after Brisbane and Rohit's eventual call to drop himself happened in a manner that can best be described as abrupt.
Messing with a player's gameplan isn't the best way to manage as Rishabh Pant demonstrated by oscillating between too careful at times that only disrupted his natural rhythm.
But more than batting, it would be the bowling – both pace and spin that would be a huge concern for the national selection committee as well as the team management.
Bumrah's absence showed what India missed on the final day even though it was heavily tilted towards Australia.
As Glenn McGrath put it, had Bumrah not taken 32 wickets, there was no chance that India would have managed a 1-3 margin.
In Brisbane, they were saved by rain and in Melbourne, Rohit let the game drift away during the final session on day four.
It has taken Mohammed Siraj 36 Test matches to complete 100 wickets and these are not exactly great figures.
Akash Deep is still raw but has potential while Prasidh Krishna can swing between bowling unplayable deliveries and pedestrian work.
Harshit Rana is simply not prepared for this level and would need to play loads of Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and India A games to get ready for big Tests.
In the spin department, Ravindra Jadeja is now more of a batter and less of a spinner unless the wicket has something to offer from day one like it happens in India.
Washington Sundar's 12 wickets in Pune should be looked in isolation and he is also more of a batter than a competent off-spinner on batting-friendly wickets.
Only silver lining of the series is Jaiswal taking over the mantle as the next batting superstar and the raw talent exhibited by Nitish Reddy.
Reddy's bowling, if it develops, would give India a chance to play three spinners at home on decent tracks.
(With PTI Inputs)
Updated 11:59 IST, January 5th 2025