Former India opener Gautam Gambhir opined that the Team India batsmen should have played in a few Ranji matches prior to the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 series, which, although India lead by 2-1, their batters have largely been disappointing, the nadir of their struggling batting against spin featured in the 3rd Test, in Indore, as India were bowled out for 109 and 163 with only one Indian batsman – Pujara– scoring a fifty as the Aussies won by 9 wickets.
In Indore, Australia made a brilliant comeback in the series and sealed their WTC final spot while the Indian top-order batters were given a reality check about their poor show in the past couple of years in home conditions being masked constantly by Pant, Jadeja, and now Axar and Ashwin.
In 3 Test matches in this series so far, only two Indians – Axar and Rohit Sharma – have scored more than 150 runs, and just two others – Jadeja and Axar – have scored over 100; only Axar and Rohit average more than 30 in 3 Tests in this series.
India’s loss in the Indore Test on a raging turner has perhaps exposed the chinks in the armor of the Indian batters and their ability to cope up with quality spinners – such as Lyon and Kuhnemann – on spin-friendly tracks.
Speaking with Sports Tak, Gautam Gambhir reckons the Indian batters should have played some red-ball cricket earlier.
“The Indian batters should have played a few Ranji Trophy matches ahead of the Test series against Australia. However, they shouldn’t have played those matches just to prepare. It doesn’t matter if you conduct 20-day camps or bat in the nets.
“Australia struggled in the first two matches because of their mindset of not playing practice matches. This is a negative mindset. The same goes for the Indian batters. It is very important to play red-ball cricket before an important series,” Gautam Gambhir said.
The 4th Test, which India have to win to book their place in the WTC final, is in Ahmedabad from March 9.
Legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar has given his suggestion to the Indian batters to “crouch a little” in their stance to tackle the sharp turn and deviation off the surface.
“Just like a great wicketkeeper who gets up with the bounce, a batsman, if he crouches just a little bit – not too low – where his head is more in line with the delivery angle, he would get to know which one to play. How far to go forward or is it better to go on the back foot,” Gavaskar told The Indian Express.
“Standing upright does not give that advantage on turners. They would be able to meet the deviation and bounce better if you crouch a little like a keeper.”
It has been learned that India are set to make two changes to their side: Shami and Kishan are set to replace Siraj and KS Bharat.
