“Overconfident”, Can Neither Play Spin Nor Pace: Ex Pakistan Star Tears Into Team India

Criticism continues to be thrown at Team India’s face from all corners after the defeats in the first two Tests against New Zealand. In what was the first home Test series defeat for Rohit Sharma and his men in 12 years, the batting unit’s failure has been highlihted as the biggest contributing factor. Even former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali tore into the Indian team, saying the players looked overconfident against the Kiwis but didn’t manage to play either spin or pace.

“I had said chasing 350-plus will be too difficult. There had to be a ton from one of the top three batters. India’s batting got exposed. In the first match, the 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, that 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.

Basit Ali also expressed his concern over the Indian team’s preparedness for the Australia tour, especially after seeing that veteran pacer Mohammed Shami wasn’t picked for the tour.

“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.