Former cricketers dejected as India meekly surrendered at Lord's

The visitors were bowled out twice in 82.2 overs.

By Shubham Ghosh

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Indian team at Lord’s balcony (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

India’s insipid performance in the second Test at Lord’s that saw England going up 2-0 up the five-match series has come under severe criticism from the country’s former cricketers. The visitors were thrashed by an innings and 159 runs by the hosts as they faced yet another batting collapse on Day 4 of the game after conceding a lead of 289 runs.

Former Indian captains Virender Sehwag and Bishan Singh Bedi besides celebrated ex-batsman VVS Laxman rued India’s lack of fighting spirit at the Home of Cricket. They lost inside four days despite the opening day getting washed out. India’s two innings lasted 82.2 overs and they scored 237 runs for the loss of 20 wickets which was a pathetic advertisement for its much-vaunted batting order.

Sehwag was critical of the lack of confidence in the batsmen and hoped that they are mentally prepared to make a strong comeback in the rest of the series.

“Very poor from India. While we all want to stand by our team and support them when they don’t do well, going down without a fight is very disappointing to watch. Hope they have the confidence and mental strength to comeback from this,” the only Indian to hit two triple centuries in Tests, said in a tweet.

Bedi’s forthright views

Bedi, who is known for his outright talks, was more ruthless. He was of the opinion that the people involved in BCCI knew the actual issues in the team.  “Dismal Indians at Lord’s..everyone remotely connected with Indian Cricket knows where the problem lies or stems from..but will not utter a word for want of strength of character & courage of conviction…which is even more depressing really than the batting debacle actually…!!” he wrote.

Laxman, a major architect of one of India’s most memorable comebacks in a Test match in 2001, hoped the visitors will learn from their mistakes and make it count in the third Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, starting August 18.
“Caught in unfavourable conditions, not reading what the opposition threw saw India lose the Lord’s Test tamely without showing a fight. Hopefully lessons are learnt quickly and the rest of the batsman start applying themselves going forward,” he wrote.

Another former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif said India’s performance was painful to watch and felt that none of the Indian batsmen looked confident during their stay in the middle. “India lasted 82 overs across 2 innings. They not learning from mistakes has been very disappointing to watch. Thoroughly outplayed in all departments in this one. Lack of fight has been the most disappointing aspect. This is really painful to watch. No batsman exudes any confidence,” he said.

Former left-handed batsman Vinod Kambli said India will have to do a lot of thinking ahead of the next game which they must win or draw to remain alive in the series.

“Our entire approach in this Test was defensive. More than anything, we allowed the English bowlers to come out on top by not playing our natural stroke playing game. The #TeamIndia think tank has a lot to ponder over in the coming days,” the former cricketer said.

 

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