Severely critical of the Indian cricket team’s poor show against England in the third Test, former captain Sunil Gavaskar said the old habit of getting complacent after a big win seems to have affected the side during the lost match.
India went down by 266 runs in the Southampton Test on Thursday after the morale-lifting triumph in the second Test at Lord’s.
“We might have helped England get back the momentum. Having beaten them at their headquarters in Lord’s, we had them absolutely demoralised. But I don’t know what we did in the five intervening days after that. We were sloppy on the first morning. We dropped Cook and let him get away. We need to look at our slip fielding and so many other things. There were so many misfields,” the legendary opener told ‘NDTV’ from Southampton.
“It used to happen to Indian teams since 1930’s but this Indian team is more professional. They should not be affected by complacency and should address the issues quickly.”
Zero resistance“Zero resistance” is the word that Gavaskar used to explain India’s abject surrender on the fifth and final day of the third Test while they had six wickets in hand.
“To lose a match like this showed zero resistance whatsoever. Apart from Ajinkya Rahane, who applied himself, none of the other batsmen could stay at the wicket. I must also mention that Jimmy Anderson bowled superb deliveries and the best batsmen in the world could have got out. But the disappointing aspect was no resistance,” said Gavaskar.
Batting: A concernGavaskar felt batting has been a major cause of concern. “They (Indian team) need to understand that batting has let them down. Had the catches been taken, the bowling would have risen to the occasion. England have utilised the conditions well. Anderson and Broad know the length and areas to bowl… They mixed it up well using the occasional short ball to their advantage.”
Boycott, Botham laud EnglandLavishing praise on the England cricket team for their series-equalising win in the third Test against India, former captain Geoffrey Boycott and Ian Botham said the home side looked much stronger than the tourists in every department of the game.
Writing in ‘The Daily Telegraph’, Boycott said, hoped that the English team would continue to perform well in the remaining tests.
“Now we want England to prove this was not a flashy one off. We want this kind of performance for the next two Test matches and win the series.”
Botham said it was to watch struggling English skipper Alastair Cook finally get back to form was a superb sight to watch.
“From what was one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen from an England team at Lord’s to one of the best in recent memory. The win at the Ageas Bowl was simply superb right from the off,” Botham wrote in ‘The Mirror’
“On every day, in every session and in every department England were stronger than India and I expect to see them pull away further over the rest of the series. …What pleased me most about this win was the contributions from across the whole team. It wasn’t just the newer guys making their mark it was the senior men too. Watching the likes of Alastair Cook and Ian Bell back in the runs and Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson back in the wickets was great to see and hopefully this will kick start the rest of the summer for them,” he added.
