‘Overconfidence’ led to India’s downfall and subsequently a home series defeat against New Zealand reckoned former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali. It was India’s first series defeat on home soil in 12 years, thus marking an end to the longest-ever winning streak in Test history, which lasted 18 consecutive wins dating back to 2013.
New Zealand made history last Sunday in Bengaluru, beating India by eight wickets in the rain-marred opener to record their first win in the country in 36 years. Later on Friday, they beat India inside three days in the second Test match in Pune to script their first-ever series win on Indian soil in 70 years, since their first visit to the country in 1955.
Basit reckoned that on the back of a series win against Bangladesh, which included a win in the rain-interrupted Kanpur match where India wrapped up the game inside two days, and Sri Lanka’s 2-0 whitewash over New Zealand last month, Rohit Sharma and his men took the Kiwis lightly in the contest, giving more preference to the Border-Gavaskar Test series against Australia, which will begin next month. However, New Zealand came like a bolt from the blue, and exposed India’s batting.
“I had said chasing 350-plus will be too difficult. There had to be ton from one of the top three batters. India’s batting got exposed. In the first match, Kiwi pacers took 17 wickets. In the second Test, spinners took 19 wickets. India players were neither able to play pacers well nor spinners. On a track that had pace and bounce (Bengaluru), India lost and on a spinning track, India lost as well, Basit said on his YouTube channel.
“The match India won against Bangladesh in two days and New Zealand’s 2-0 defeat in Sri Lanka, the team might have thought they would beat the Kiwis easily. This means, Indian management and Indian players were overconfident. New Zealand did their homework. They had nothing to lose. No one would have thought that the Kiwis might be able to defeat India. Even New Zealand themselves wouldn’t have thought of something like this. But they did their homework,” he added.
‘India will have problems in Australia’
In the wake of the series loss against New Zealand at home, the veteran Pakistan cricketer sent India a warning about the upcoming series against Australia, saying that the team will face problems after the selectors did not consider Mohammed Shami in the squad as it would put a lot of pressure on Jasprit Bumrah. He also felt that left-armer Arshdeep could have been added to the pace line-up in Shami’s stead.
“I am surprised (mujhe hairat hai) why there is no Mohammed Shami in the squad for the Australia tour. You have put all the load on Bumrah. Arshdeep (Singh) could have been in the squad because he brings variety. In this team, India’s fast bowling is not complete without Shami. Without Shami, India might face problems in Australia. In Australia, your weapon is fast bowling. India will have problems in Australia,” he said.
Shami could still make the squad for the Australia tour if he manages to prove his fitness in Bengal’s upcoming Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh next week.
