Nov 13, 2024 06:00 AM IST
Brett Lee feels India paid the price for taking New Zealand lightly but then again, it wasn’t their fault.
Brett Lee, the former Australia pacer, reckons India probably made the mistake of taking New Zealand lightly, resulting in a 0-3 whitewash at the hands of the Kiwis. It’s been more than 10 days since India were wounded at home, conceding their fortress for the first time since 2012. The Indian batters were made to submit by New Zealand spinners, with left-arm spinners Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel taking turns to inflict a comprehensive beating on the Indians. A meek eight-wicket surrender in Bengaluru, followed by a 113-run demolition in Pune, tarnished India’s 18 blemish-free series at home.
A concerning pattern that emerged from India’s loss was the manner in which some of the players approached batting. With the art of playing long lost, Indian batters tried to force themselves on the New Zealand bowlers. The tactics didn’t pay off, as the team was dismissed for an underwhelming score on more than one occasion. Lee feels this intent could have had something to do with India’s complacency, given their record at home. But then again, it stems from their belief that they can’t be beaten at home.
“Is it a T20 issue? Were the batsmen too attacking? Is it a skill issue? Is it a problem with them not taking the Kiwis too seriously? I think yes, on all formats. They went into the series thinking that we’ll just whitewash the Kiwis, thinking that’s going to be an easy series. And that’s no disrespect to the Kiwis. It’s just that India are so powerful, so strong on home soil,” Lee said on his YouTube channel.
How India can bounce back
The Indian cricket team has blown hot and cold after winning the T20 World Cup in June. Since Gautam Gambhir took over as the head coach, India has been a team of two extremes. They beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in T20Is, and Bangladesh 2-0 and 3-0 in a T20s series, but have also suffered a 0-3 loss against the Lankans and the BlackCaps each. Lee admits it’s shocking to see Indian cricket struggle, but he is equally confident of them coming into its own when the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy gets underway on November 22 at Perth.
Australia haven’t been in the best of nicks either, and with a place in the World Test Championship up for grabs, India would want to turn that frown upside down and rekindle the same belief and confidence that helped them beat Australia on their soil the last two times.
“This is a great learning curve for all out there. Probably not for Aussies because now they’ve got to understand that India will be much-better prepared. They are going to come in strong. They would have got a kick up the backside from their coach, Gautam Gambhir. This is atrocious, the way they played but they are still a team of champions. They have had a downfall over the last couple of weeks; it does happen in cricket. But this is the time to turn it into positives. The Kiwis caught India off-guard,” he added.
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