Greats of Indian cricket have pulled no punches after Rohit Sharma’s side’s historic whitewash on home soil at the hands of New Zealand.
It is the first time India have lost every Test in a series of three or more at home and Black Caps fans have woken up on Monday morning pinching themselves to make sure it was not a dream.
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NZ CLAIM “GREATEST TEST WIN” IN INDIA | 01:04
Only a month ago, it seemed fanciful that Tom Latham’s side would win a Test in India let alone all three in the series.
India had not lost a series at home since 2012, New Zealand had not won a Test in India since 1988, their star batter Kane Williamson was ruled out with injury and they had just been dusted 2-0 in Sri Lanka on turning pitches.
The stars were not aligning.
It did not matter however as with the bat, they put a higher price on their wickets than a real estate agent does on a new listing to scrap their way to match winning totals against arguably the best fast bowler in the world, Jasprit Bumrah, and possibly the most intimidating spin duo of all time in home conditions in Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
With the ball, Matt Henry and Will O’Rourke taking nine wickets between them as they bowled India out for 46 in the first innings of the first Test, Mitchell Santner’s 13 wickets for the match in Pune and Ajaz Patel’s 11 wicket-haul in Mumbai will forever be the stuff of legend.
New Zealand sweep India on away soil! | 01:02
But in India, the talk has not been on New Zealand’s heroics.
Instead, collective outrage has focused on the failures of their star batters – two icons in particular.
Captain Sharma managed 91 runs at 15.16 in his six innings across the series, while superstar Virat Kohli fared little better with 93 runs at 15.50.
Opening the batting, Sharma has survived his first 20 balls just once in last ten Test innings.
Kohli has scored a half-century once in the six Test matches he has played this year.
The numbers are dire, and reports have emerged out of India that the aging batters are on their last legs in the Test arena.
A senior BCCI source told the Press Trust of India that Test future of Sharma, Kohli, Ashwin and Jadeja will hinge on whether or not they can turn things around to make next year’s World Test Championship final.
“Stocks will be taken certainly and it could be of informal nature since the team leaves for Australia on November 10. But this has been a huge debacle but, with Australia series round the corner and the squad already announced, there won’t be any tinkering,” a senior BCCI source told PTI.
“But if India doesn’t qualify for WTC final in England, one can be rest assured that all four super seniors won’t be on that flight to UK for the ensuing five-Test series. In any case, all four have likely played their final Test at home together.”
Before the New Zealand series, India were cruising in the race to Lords.
Now they are in real danger of missing the showpiece event for the first time as they need to defeat Australia 4-0 to be certain of place in the final.
India can still make it if other results go their way, but they must demolish Pat Cummins’ side to keep their destiny in their own hands.
Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble believes they gambled with the pitches they produced against New Zealand and it has come back to bite them.
India A cleared of ball tampering claims | 01:45
Speaking on Indian TV network Jio Cinema, Kumble expressed his disappointment in India’s batters but also suggested that such spin-friendly conditions in Pune and Mumbai can turn the match into a bit of lottery.
“I think it’s about time (India reassess their home pitches). If it was not even before the start of this Test match, it certainly something that India needs to respect and then, you know, understand what kind of surfaces you need to play on as well,” he said.
“I think we spoke about it even in Pune before the start of the Test match itself. It was spin to win. But it’s certainly gave New Zealand a chance to come out there and then do what they have done exceptionally well. I mean, kudos to them.
“I think the pitch got to the heads of the Indian batters…the top order not even batting a session throughout the series, except for that one partnership in Bangalore in the second innings.
“Other than that, you know in five innings to sort of just go through a batting line up, like the Indian batting line up in one session certainly says a lot about the approach, the attitude and of course, needs a lot of questioning and how you could come out of this.”
‘I don’t know how that was overturned’ | 03:04
Kumble’s comments about the pitches received support from his former spinning partner Harbhajan Singh.
The one-time Australian tormentor believes the excessive spin often seen in Test matches in India has thrown out the balance between bat and ball.
“Earlier generations batsmen never played on these kinds of tracks,” Singh said.
“These tracks are prepared for two, three-day Test matches. You don’t need Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan], [Shane] Warne or ‘Saqi’ [Saqlain Mushtaq] on these pitches to get the teams out. Anyone can get anyone out.”
Grave concerns persist for how India’s batters have applied themselves in the testing conditions however.
With the Indian Premier League ever expanding and India loving to host bilateral T20I series, their batters are playing an abundance of short form cricket.
So much so that Sharma and Kohli rested instead of played domestic red ball cricket in the lead-up to their home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
The Courier Mail and Code Sports cricket writer Robert Craddock said last month that “their batsman, because the play so much T20 cricket, they struggle to hold onto the rhythms of a probing Test match”.
McSweeney stars for Aus on dramatic day | 01:43
The days of Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahul Dravid grinding a way at a snails pace to keep the opposition baking in the heat are done in favour of carrying the attacking instincts of the white ball games into the Test arena.
Virender Sehwag was ahead of his time in motoring along at a fast pace in Test matches, but the former dashing opener believes the current method – which is akin to how he played – under new coach Gautum Gambhir needs to be adjusted.
“The skill to play spin certainly needs an upgrade and certain experimentations are good for the shorter format but in Test cricket doing some needless experimentations just for the sake of it was indeed poor,” Sehwag wrote on Instagram.
Australian conditions should favour a more cavalier approach with the bat however.
The pace and bounce can lead to better shot making, and of course, India’s batters come to Australian shores buoyed by positive memories of their two previous tours.
But Australia’s bowlers are hungry after those losses and will be eager to make early blows on a batting line-up low on confidence when the series gets underway at Perth Stadium later this month.
Fans are already at fever pitch for the highly-anticipated five-Test match series and it has become all the more intriguing with the pressure cooker placed on India’s aging stars.
