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To avoid a whitewash at the hands of New Zealand, the Indian team could have opted to play the three-match series on a flat track and used all their previous experiences to get some runs before the Australian tour, former Indian cricketer Surender Khanna suggested while taking to CricBlogger.
“By choosing flatter tracks, the Indian team could have leveraged their batting strengths and gained confidence ahead of the Australian tour. It would have allowed them to capitalize on the experience of their top-order batters, potentially mitigating the issues they faced in adapting to challenging surfaces,” Khanna said.
The Indian batters struggle on bouncy decks, seaming wickets and turning tracks, makes this Rohit Sharma-led side one of the weakest Test teams in recent times.
“Players are still in IPL mode and while the negotiations were on for retention, it turned out to be a massive distraction for the team. A win over New Zealand was a must to carry the confidence to Australia,” Khanna said while adding that India would have to really play out of their skin to win in Australia now.
“As Indians, we would love to see our team doing well and I hope they do well,” Khanna said.
One of the key features for an Indian team to do well in Australia is to ensure that the captain of the team is made the boss not the coach. With Gautam Gambhir constantly getting involved with team selections and pitch conditions at home, captain Rohit Sharma needs to be given enough space to exercise his authority without much of interference from the coach just like the way Rahul Dravid did. It’s all about empowering the team members and it seems a weak performance against New Zealand has shown chinks in the armour for Team India.
