Sir,
India gave away the First Test Match at Chennai on a Silver Platter. A series of blunders committed resulted in pathetic performance. The blunders listed are:
- Pitch: The pitch seemed to have been prepared for English team and they took advantage more with spin than pace this time. Our bowlers were inept in offering the English batsmen any threat, particularly Captain Joe Root. At least India can prepare a better pitch like Australia where both the teams had an equal chance; our pitch curators should learn from Australian curators.
- Captain: Virat Kohli is known more to lose the toss than he won. His Captaincy has left much to be desired and he is not effective as a Captain.
It is time that Ajinkya Rahane or K.L. Rahul took over the Captaincy.
- Two batsmen overrated: Kohli and Rohit Sharma are overrated batsmen. Past is not the indicator of the present form. In Australia, Mayank Agarwal played in both the Tests which India won.
Where is the Ravi Shastri dictum that a winning combination should not be disturbed? Mayank Agarwal scored 39 and 9 in the last Test which India won. Yet he did not get a place at Chennai.
- Shobby Keeper: Rishabh Pant behind the wickets is very poor. Dropping stumpings and catches is dearer than scoring some runs as though he is batting in limited overs cricket. Right from first ball he started connecting for six or four and never settled as a Test batsman in both the innings. He should be dropped and replaced by Rahul or retained only as a batsman.
- Luxury: Playing two off-spinners in Indian soil is luxury. Who gave the idea is unimaginable. Washington Sundar is just learning. Again past performance in Australia cannot be taken always. He was considered more for bowling but turned out to be a useful batsman. Gone are the days when Venkatraghavan and Prasanna played together as off-spinners.
- Nadeem: Overnight decision in bringing unheard bowler (Shahbaz Nadeem) when Kuldeep has done well in Indian soil.
An attacking leg-spinner like Shreyas Gopal or Bishnoi would have done a better job of unsettling English batsmen.
Captaincy is really poor on Indian side because England team got better prepared to play spin after playing in Sri Lanka. English spinners bowled well and our batsmen were pushed to the wall in their own den.
Indian selectors should have a realistic approach on selecting the best team based on performance and talent and not on other considerations.
– Prof. N. Narayana Sastry, Mysuru, 9.2.2021
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