A year after suffering a 0-3 series whitewash in their own backyard against New Zealand, Team India have yet again tasted defeat on home turf, this time a 30-run loss to South Africa in the first Test at Kolkata.
Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar blames this shoddy performance on poor temperament of the batters and improper planning by the BCCI.
‘Approach needs to change’
“Nowadays every touring team that comes to India is well prepared. They look at how the wickets will play in India and plan how they can play to their strengths. The same thing happened against New Zealand [last year] and now it’s happening versus South Africa [now]. The Indian players need to adapt to different formats quickly. They cannot have a similar approach to Test cricket like they do to one-day cricket or the T20 format. They have to play differently as per the particular format. It all comes down to the temperament of the batters because the new players are looking forward to playing only T20 tournaments, not four-day games,” Vengsarkar told mid-day on Sunday.
Lack of solid defence
Vengsarkar, a veteran of 116 Tests, who has 6,868 runs and 17 Test centuries under his belt, feels the Indian batters are lacking a solid defence. “We should prepare a good Test match wicket. When you make turning wickets, your batsmen, who aren’t available for first-class matches, will have issues because their technique is not as solid as it should be. A solid defence is what’s required in Test cricket,” said the former national chief selector, who pulled up the BCCI for getting their scheduling incorrect.
“Since BCCI is organising India ‘A’ tours abroad when the Ranji Trophy is in progress at home, this dilutes the importance of the domestic competition. You must plan things more professionally. You should plan India ‘A’ tours in advance keeping the domestic schedule in mind. This is very poor planning by BCCI,” added Vengsarkar.