'Did not play their natural game' - Rashid Latif unimpressed with India's performance against New Zealand

The belligerent Kiwis roar at last, after a host of soul-crushing defeats at the hands of India in the truncated version of the game. New Zealand have made India smell rare meat, made them salivate, only to deny them its taste in the end as the hosts bounced back and inflicted ODI series whitewash on the Men in Blue.

When the focus shifted to the Test cricket, there were a lot of expectations from Team India as they have not lost a single game in the ICC World Test Championship. But make no mistake, New Zealand will hunt down and punish the opposition and that’s what exactly happened during the first Test match at Basin Reserve in Wellington.

On a majority of the occasions, India allowed New Zealand to dictate tempo in the game and much to the delight of the home crowd, the hosts beat India by ten wickets and took 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series. India hardly upped the ante as they could set up a target of just nine runs and the hosts aced the run-chase in just 1.4 overs.

‘India were bogged down in both innings’: Rashid Latif

The Test match came to a close inside four days which left former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif unimpressed. He highlighted that Team India’s record is not too good in overseas conditions while adding that this is not the type of game India plays as they did not stick to their natural philosophy throughout the first Test match.

“India’s record in overseas conditions is not too good. India did not play their natural game, they were bogged down in both the innings. This is not how India play, when you leave so many boundary balls and keep leaving balls, there will be one ball with your name on it. India should have attacked in their first innings, batting disappointed but bowling was also disappointing.

Umesh Yadav would have succeeded here, (Jasprit) Bumrah and (Mohammad) Shami kept targeting stumps. In Test cricket, especially when conditions are conducive to seam and swing, you have to target outside the off stump and get the batsmen driving,” said the veteran said on his YouTube channel.

India’s conservative approach, especially at the start of the innings, has come under fire of late in Test cricket and it will be quite interesting to see how they respond in Christchurch Test that starts on February 29, Saturday. On the other end of the spectrum, the hosts will be looking forward to wrapping up the Test series on a good note.

Here’s the video: